Madden 22: Cover athlete, release date, EA Play Live, pre-order, leaks, more

EA is gearing up for players to hit the gridiron once again in Madden 22, and this year’s football game is looking to add revolutionary features to the game to solidify it as the premier sports game.

EA has been putting out their NFL simulation series for what feels like an eternity, and once again they are preparing to release another annual version of Madden with the NFL season kicking off in the next few months.

While this is a lot of anticipation surrounding Madden 22, EA has been slowly but surely releasing information about a flurry of features coming to this year’s title.

Here’s everything we know about Madden 22!

Release date and cover athletes

Madden typically releases an annual title around a month before the NFL has its opening kick-off, and this year’s no exception.

Madden 22 will be releasing worldwide on August 20, 2021, however, pre-ordering the more expensive editions will net you three days earlier access than other players. So, something a die-hard Madden fan may want to consider.

• Read More: FIFA 22 pre-order guide

Gracing the cover of this year’s games are two of the most polarizing figures within the NFL. Both Patrick Mahomes of the Kanas City Chiefs and Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be linking up for a wicked cover. Hopefully the “Madden Curse” doesn’t strike twice this year!

Franchise mode

The simulation game mode within Madden has always been a big hitter within the series, and fortunately, EA has announced a massive overhaul coming this year.

In the lead up to the game’s release on the 16 of August, devs have been doing weekly deep-dives into all of the game modes, and Franchise got its time in the spotlight on June 25.

Here are some of the key changes coming to this year’s Madden in regards to Franchise mode, according to devs:

• Franchise Staff
  • Franchise Staff is a brand new way to manage your Franchise. We have expanded the coaching roster to include an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and added a player personnel department that serves as your primary player acquisition character
• Talent Trees
  • Talent Trees replace our old coach upgrade system by giving gamers tree structures with various boosts for each character. At launch, each of the four characters will have two sub-trees associated with them. Each tree is themed to that character, as well as the role that character has in the organization.
• Weekly Strategy
  • The first thing you will see when you go into Weekly Strategy is your Defensive Gameplan for the current week. The Defensive Gameplan will show important information about your upcoming opponent’s offense including their team stats and where they rank, their overall run-pass ratio, and the recommended Defensive Gameplan Focus for the week. 
  • Each focus will have a Top Threat player with some specific Next Gen Stats and ranks associated with him.
  • The Offensive Gameplan would be very similar to the Defensive Gameplan in how it looks and how it is set up. However, instead of looking for a way to slow down an opponent’s strength as you did for your Defensive Gameplan
• Season Engine & More!
  • Madden NFL 22 will feature over 30 brand-new scenarios taking place at any point in the season – whether it be the preseason, regular season, playoffs, or Super Bowl. Each scenario has context-based trigger conditions meaning that what happens in your Franchise is going to dictate when scenarios happen and what kind of scenarios you experience.

Home Field Advantage M-Factors

This is a brand new feature coming in this year’s Madden, as it will replicate how player-specific X-Factors are within the game. Basically, each venue will have a factor that will affect the home or away team, and some of them are vastly more drastic than others.

• Read More: MLB The Show 21 – June player of the month

EA has revealed all of the Field Advantages already, and we’ve listed all of them down below:

Face of the Franchise

Madden’s career mode has seen some exponential changes in recent years, and once again, EA is implementing a flurry of additions for this year’s entry. In a special showcase on July 7, they talked about an ample amount of features that are going to be present for the very first time this year.

One of the new changes comes in the form of “Road to the Draft”, and EA has noted that you’ll be a “generational prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft. The career mode begins with the chance to train with, and compete against, some of the best players in the NFL at Nike Headquarters. Along the way, you are given the opportunity to improve your draft stock via the College Football Playoff, NFL team interviews, and private workouts with select teams.”

EA will attempt to give players a closer look at the lifestyle many of the top picks in the NFL Draft go through when they are in College leading up to the professional level. But this isn’t all they are adding to Face of the Franchise mode, as a new “Class Progression System” will also be in play.

EA has stated the following in regards to the new system, “Each Class features three Superstar Abilities and one X-Factor ability for you to unlock as you level up in that Class. These abilities play into how you perform on the field and can even be customized to your specific playstyle and needs.”

• Read More: Everything we know about Elden Ring

The final addition is Class Rewards, where players will be able to gain “X-Factor and Superstar Abilities, leveling up Classes not only earns you Skill Points to boost your OVR and skill ratings, but you can earn CRED, REP, and exclusive Gear for the Yard to make your Avatar shine brighter.”

The Yard

EA’s recreational game mode is back again, and players will be able to duke it out against each other with the new additions coming to The Yard. EA has noted that this year they’ll be adding “new challenge-based Solo or Co-Op campaign. You can now visit new fields located across the world, battle boss characters with unmatched NFL talents, and unlock gear for your avatar”

As well, The Yard is adding a flurry of new content to the accompanying campaign mode and this year they’ll be breaking it up into four separate chapters. Throughout the campaign, you’ll need to defeat certain bosses, which’ll unlock new venues for your player to play in.

Superstar KO

The beloved game mode is making an appearance again in Madden 22, and EA is touting multiple additions to this year’s iteration of Superstar KO. They note that they’ll be adding “authentic NFL teams” for you to go up against!

EA Play Live 2021

Along with the weekly deep-dives, EA will be showcasing Madden during the EA Play Live Spotlight series on July 19, 2021. According to EA, this event is going will focus on a variety of different aspects of the new game.

• Read More: How to watch EA Play July Livestream

These include how fans impacted the development of Franchise Mode and helped bring to life highly requested features like Staff Management, weekly game strategy and a new scenario engine. Plus, we’ll see the first ever reveal of the brand new scouting feature coming to Madden NFL 22.

Madden 22 editions

No EA sports game is complete without multiple editions for players to choose from, and Madden is no exception. As, they have announced a flurry of editions for players to choose from, and so far we have the following, and some will offer unique bonuses.

• Standard Edition
  • 20 Staff Points
    
  • The General Player Class (Starting at Level 10)
    
  • Tom Brady Gear Capsule
    
  • Choice of 1 out of 32 NFL Stars
• MVP Edition
  • 3-Day Early Access (August 17, 2021)
    
  • Dual Entitlement
    
  • 60 Staff Points
    
  • The General Player Class (Starting at Level 10)
    
  • Tom Brady Gear Capsule
    
  • Choice of 1 out of 32 NFL Stars
    
  • Elite Item (Choice of Brady or Mahomes)
    
  • Exclusive Challenges (During Early Access window)
    
  • 11 Team Fantasy Packs
• Dynasty Edition – Digital
  • 3-Day Early Access (August 17, 2021)
    
  • Dual Entitlement
    
  • 100 Franchise Staff Points
    
  • The General Player Class (Starting at Level 10)
    
  • Tom Brady Gear Capsule
    
  • Legend Athlete Capsule (Straight Cash Homie: Randy Moss)
    
  • Choice of 1 out of 32 NFL Stars
    
  • Elite Item (Choice of Brady or Mahomes)
    
  • Exclusive Challenges (During Early Access window)
    
  • 22 Team Fantasy Packs
    
  • Curated Legends Pack
    • Choice of Brady or Mahomes
    • 2 Legends: Offense & Defense (Elite)

Difficult choices will have to be made for sure, but the higher editions might be of more interest for those who play a lot of Madden Ultimate Team.

• Read More: NBA 2K22 leaks: Cover athletes, editions

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This is all we know regarding Madden 22 right now, but we will be sure to update this page as more news flows in. Be sure to let us know if you are amped for this year’s Madden!