EA Sports’ released a February title update for Madden NFL 19 today. With the Madden Challenge coming up in just a few weeks, EA needed to tweak a few things to get the game ready for a major prize tournament. Key changes include addressing online desyncs, aggressive catches in traffic, spin moves, various exploits and more. Here’s a full breakdown of all the changes with this latest update.
Madden 19 February Title Update
Aggressive catches have finally been tuned. Per EA, “Additional context added to match-up formula for catches in traffic; logic added for taking into account additional defenders who are within the proximity to either the receiver or the catch point. DEV NOTE: This change will reduce the effectiveness of Aggressive Catches in traffic by respecting the impact of nearby defenders relative to both the receiver and the catch point.”
Spin moves were also affected. While the effectiveness of the move itself wasn’t altered, defenders now have a better chance at forcing a turnover. There is now an added penalty for spinning into a hit stick, specifically when the defending player hits the ball carrier in the back during a spin.
Online desyncs have plagued the online community over the past few months, causing tedious and annoying recreation of money games and EA qualifiers. The Madden Club Championship last month, perhaps EA’s most popular tournament, featured several desyncs that were broadcast live on Twitch. Twitter and Twitch trolls had a field day, calling out EA for not stabilizing the technical aspects of an online experience for a game that’s been out for six months. This patch added tracking and logs so that EA Sports can address the issue. EA said in the patch notes, “We’re continuing to work to drive down the rate, especially focusing on competitive formats and this tracking will help us identify the causes.”
Lastly, an issue with players not being correctly ruled down was addressed. This bug led to some absolutely embarrassing plays for EA and the Madden franchise. An example from Dubby’s stream is below.
https://twitter.com/DubDotDUBBY/status/1100124707897126914
You can read the full details for today’s title update here.
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