Back on November 30, 2021, SGO filed an exclusive report regarding the status of the promised Madden 22 franchise mode updates. SGO had learned that the two original in-season mode updates that were supposed to come after the scouting update were canceled.
Not replaced. Straight up canceled.
Ultimately, EA went to IGN to deny the report, promising that the updates would still be coming with more information coming in “the new year.”
Fast-forward to February 2022 — over two months later — and fans are still waiting for these Madden 22 Franchise mode updates. For the most part, it’s been nothing but silence from EA Sports aside from one small blurb in the Gridiron Notes on January 14.
In December, we reiterated our commitment to continuing to improve Franchise as a part of our ongoing Madden NFL 22 live service and beyond. This includes two upcoming Franchise updates that we’ll deliver in Madden NFL 22. We will have more detail on those updates in an upcoming Gridiron Notes, thank you!
How Long Should Fans Wait Or Care About Madden 22 Franchise Mode?
As of today, the 2021 NFL season has just two games remaining. The Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. At this point, the interest in Madden 22 is the lowest it’s been since launch, and it’s not going to get much higher with the season coming to an end.
The Scouting update came in October, just a few weeks into the 2021 season. That made sense to many, and the hope was that the other two updates would come in November and December while the regular season was still happening. Alas, that didn’t happen. Instead, no one received any official word on what the franchise mode pushes would be.
That’s because, as originally reported in November, the features — one of which was supposedly an update to the Scouting Talent Tree — were scrapped. Once the news was broken, it appeared to be a clear case of scrambling and backtracking. EA took over 48 hours to issue a response to the report, and still didn’t give any other details other than to say they were “still coming”.
While not as vague as NBA Live’s latest update in 2019, it was still pretty clear that the team was forced to scramble. The planned updates were shelved to focus on next year’s game. But once the waves became too high, EA Sports had to start getting things together to provide updates that weren’t going to happen. And by being completely vague through the whole process, they can push them as the planned Madden 22 franchise updates all along, even if everyone knows it to be false.
Now, fans are at the point where the focus is on thinking about Madden 23 and what they might get. Not what any small update to Madden 22 will bring at this point. It’s a yearly sports title no matter how hard EA wants to say it’s a “live service”. It’s not. Destiny is a “Live Service Game”; Fortnite is a “Live Service Game”. Madden isn’t that. And until the yearly release cycle ends, it will never be that. It will continue to be a game with a limited life cycle and interest where if promises aren’t kept in a certain amount of time, it just doesn’t matter to them.
SGO has reached out to multiple people at EA Sports for a more concrete update on the Madden 22 franchise updates. Should a response be received, the story will be updated accordingly.
So, Sports Gamers, what do you think these franchise mode updates will be? Do you think they’ll actually come, or no? Let us know in the comment section below, and take the discussion further at the official SGO Discord server.