EA gave us the gameplay deep dive, now it’s time for Franchise mode. Commissioner tools, training, draft generators, salary cap management, CPU logic, and many more changes coming to Madden 24.
Training camp makes its return
The mini-games shared in the beta are what players will be doing to improve their team in this year’s pre-season. Aiming for medals, bronze, silver, or gold, will decide how many skill points your players get from the practice. This is what we see over on NBA2K and EA Sports UFC. Here is a list of the mini-games on offer in Madden 24:
- Target Passing (Quarterbacks)
- Pass Skeleton – Outmanned (Quarterbacks)
- Rushing Attack (Halfbacks and Fullbacks)
- WR Battle (Wide Receivers and Tight Ends)
- WR Battle – Red Zone Attack (Wide Receivers and Tight Ends)
- Trench Battle – The Long Hall (Defensive Line and Linebackers)
- Chase and Tackle (Linebackers)
- DB Battle (Defensive Backs)
- DB Battle – Red Zone Defense (Defensive Backs)
- Field Goal Accuracy (Kickers)
- Coffin Corner (Punters)
The mini-games here will have varying levels of difficulty so that new and veteran players have a solid shot at the gold. This training is a huge plus for people who love getting immersed in their Franchise saves. Training your roster in a specific way can also lend to the strategies you will be running. This is a great start as the first announcement on the deep dive.
Weekly strategies and making trades
The mini-games don’t stop with the training camps, they’re also involved with your weekly strategies. After selecting your game plan, your focus players will play through a mini-game. This will be the perfect way to fine-tune your roster towards playing out your strategy to its full effect. Next up is the overhaul of trades. Trying to emulate the real-life blockbuster moves, EA doubled the trade slots from three to six. This also allows for extra draft picks with an additional year being added, picking from the current year, or the following two. Madden NFL 24 will see an improvement in generated offers added in Madden 23. Many fans weren’t happy with its implementation in 23. EA claim to have identified the issues but this time the fans need to see it having better functionality.
Commissioner tools available in Madden 24 franchise mode
Adding more options to allow for a better sandbox experience will always be a plus. Being able to toggle on and off the depth chart is the first feature. But one of the most exciting options will be draft class strength. From very weak to very strong, you now choose how good the draft classes are. If you’re not seeing many new players breakthrough in your save, well, time to pump out a golden generation. With the option very strong, draft classes produce an average of ten 80+ OVR prospects. Another welcome change is trade difficulty. Easy/Very Easy will reduce the value needed for a trade to be complete. If you’re someone who finds the game easy, then crank it up to very hard and really test yourself. Home field advantage now has a toggle option. Though, age-based progression and regression sliders may be a lowkey game changer. This combined with the position slider will stop the inevitable CB drop-off after 28 seen in Madden 23. Other neat additions include a draft timer, and free agency negotiations having full flexibility.
Draft generators
EA explain that draft generators are what decide on a prospect’s ability as you scout them. Madden 23 had 30 draft generators, Madden 24 will have over 80. Four types of prospects have been added. Generational, “99 club”, utility, and injury-prone. Generational prospects will enter the league with the highest possible DEV trait for their position. Injury-prone players will have high OVR, but it’ll be up to you to decide if the risk is worth it. Fans wanted more utility in the prospects. Finding players that had the standard skillset to play their main position was easy. Finding a QB that could be moved to wide receiver was not. Well, now it will be. EA also added a CB generator based around being a former WR, with the ability to have ball carrier skills.
Relocation and team brand
You can now relocate your team as a coach, you are not limited to doing this as an owner. Though, one thing that’s still missing is being able to create your team from scratch. There are many new options for players. 15 new locations for you to move to:
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Canton, Ohio
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Melbourne, Australia
- Montreal, Canada
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Paris, France
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Tokyo, Japan
- Vancouver, Canada
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
On top of this, more name choices will be available. Uniforms can now be switched based on the logo that you choose. Each logo will allow for 9 uniform combinations. Despite all these new options, many are still asking why aren’t they able to make their own team. With how EA are addressing feedback directly in these Gridiron notes, we may see team creation in the coming years.
Salary cap, player logic, and talent tree expansion
One issue with previous Madden games is keeping your superstar roster. Contract restructuring and a 5th-year option are here to change that. This will allow you to hold on to those young gems when you’ve turned them into a diamond. For the immersion players like me, player logic has been improved. Now, CPU controlled teams won’t just let their star players leave without a fight. When signing superstars, they will lock them down to a better contract to keep a hold of them and increase their chances of winning the championship. Talent trees were previously lacking, now they’re bolstered with all personnel choosing between 3 full options. Choosing to go down one will lock you out from the other, though. Overall there seem to be many good potential changes to Franchise mode. Though, it’ll be down to how they function in the game, because this isn’t the first time EA has given out empty promises.
For a full read of the Gridiron notes, check it out here.