Earlier today, the team behind Madden 22 offered up a new deep dive into this year’s dynamic gameday systems, which include offering teams a real home-field advantage and improved AI opponents for single-player matchups. EA Tiburon has developed the Madden series since 1995, so the developer has plenty of experience when it comes to simulating the sport of football. Each year’s iteration offers up interesting improvements to the core gameplay, and Madden 22 appears to be no different.
The team has already gone over improvements to Madden 22‘s franchise mode, which include skill trees for coaches, improved weekly strategy, and a better UI for the main hub. Some of these updates, like the coach skill trees, carry over features that made their debut in the NCAA Football series. Others, like the ability to get in-depth on the specifics of each week’s game, are additions that add to what existed in Madden 21. In both cases, the new features aim to improve one of the most popular ways to play Madden.
As seen in today’s deep dive trailer, players will see improvements in Madden 22 no matter how they choose to play. That’s thanks to a three-pronged system that EA Tiburon is calling Dynamic Gameday. First and foremost, the stadium experience will not only feel more alive in this year’s game thanks to improved crowd animations and the inclusion of superfans, but the audience will affect certain plays thanks to their raucous support of the home team. Crowd noise could drown out a quarterback audible or make him miss a call. This authenticity also extends to an improved broadcast package for each stadium and additional celebrations in the endzone.
Unruly fans aren’t the only dynamic element that could get in the way of a good play. In Madden 22, teams will have built-in momentum that shifts throughout each game. A squad that’s crushing the competition may find it easier to get the ball down the field while the underdogs truly have to pull out all the stops. This also extends to teams playing at their home stadium, which offers a unique perk that ties into the unique aspects of each team. For example, the Seahawks’ famously loud crowds will make plays harder to execute. Meanwhile, the Windy City makes field goals harder to score for anyone going up against Chicago. These perks aren’t permanently active, but players will want to be aware of them all the same.
The final aspect of Dynamic Gameday is an improved AI system that takes information from the thousands of solo games players have completed in Madden over the last two years. Using technology that seems similar to the Forza Motorsport Drivatar concept, EA Tiburon hopes to make games against the AI feel just as dynamic as playing against a human opponent. This will translate into teams that mirror their real-life counterparts and succeed when sticking to the passing or running plays that they’ve mastered. Stats will continue to evolve over the course of the year, mirroring real-life stats in an exhibition game and the stats of the team in an ongoing Franchise season.
It’s clear to see that EA Tiburon is utilizing every available technology to make Madden 22 a standout entry in the long-running sports sim series. The addition of not only automatically updating rosters, but stats that keep up with the real-life sport is a crazy prospect, and giving teams perks based on their home stadium is another fun way to keep things as realistic as possible. Players are sure to be ready to throw the pigskin around when the game debuts this August.
Madden NFL 22 releases on August 20, 2021, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia
