While Madden NFL 22 hasn't officially been revealed yet, the consensus among the gaming community is that it's coming this year eventually. When it does arrive, Electronic Arts has an opportunity to win over fans that have voiced displeasure over the most recent installments in the long-running series. Some of the things the game has to offer are aspects that have long been called for when it comes to Madden NFL. There are also several things that EA Sports should look at in other series it could learn a thing or two from, which includes MLB The Show 21 and what that game brings to the table when it comes to its franchise mode.
As a matter of fact, it seems as if the two games have learned at least something from one another. It's hard to know exactly who had the idea first, versus who moved forward with the idea first, but both games have an aspect that allows users to put together a kind of All-Star team. In Madden NFL 21, that aspect is known as the Ultimate Team. In The Show, it's called Diamond Dynasty. While those modes have gained popularity in recent years, at the heart of what makes both sports sims great are their dynasty modes. At least, their dynasty modes should make the games great, but Madden NFL especially has left a few things that were part of what made it great behind. As such, it could look to MLB The Show 21.
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One of the newest aspects of Madden NFL games is the ability for some of the best players in the game to almost have a kind of superpower. For quarterbacks, they suddenly have an extra gear when they are running downfield or an extra oomf when throwing the ball. Receivers are more apt to break away from defenders or catch a ball in traffic. On defense, players are able to break through blocks a bit easier. The point of these "powers" is to set some of the best players aside from the less talented. However, that kind of boost might be better used in Madden Ultimate Team.
MLB The Show 21 does not have that kind of extra gear for players in the franchise mode. The game just allows the best players to have the best ratings and then go from there. It allows for the players to show they are head and shoulders above their counterparts without having some kind of superhuman boost. That extra step in Madden just seems to be something that was inserted with the best of intentions, but really isn't needed. Users are enjoying themselves in MLB The Show without that option. Time can be better spent on other options when it comes to the franchise mode in the long-running football game, rather than gimmicks like this one.
One aspect that Madden NFL seems to have already learned from MLB The Show is that players want to be able to put themselves in the game and start their careers from the ground up. The football game has long had the ability to create a player and start from their rookie season, but the ability to see the player start their careers at the lower level is a relatively new addition. Face of the Franchise does some of the things that Road to the Show does, though it still falls short in comparison. There are still things the mode can learn from its baseball counterpart.
The biggest difference between the modes, of course, is that Road to the Show allows players to determine who their character is and what position they play. The narrative is also almost entirely in the hands of the user. Meanwhile, Face of the Franchise still makes people take on the role of a pre-created character and then play certain steps in their progression. If there's one way that Face of the Franchise can improve, it's allowing users to control their fledgling careers more. Having something at stake and waiting to get the call can be quite fun in the grand scheme of things. Having a player that users know is going to be a "star" in the NFL takes some of the fun away.
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When it comes to immersing players into the franchise mode, the best way to generate a feel that users are really running the team is to have them control all aspects. That includes the "GM" role really staffing up the team. In MLB The Show 21, users can hire and fire the manager, the pitching coach, the hitting coach, the bench coach, and so on and so forth. In Madden NFL 21, users can hire and fire the head coach, but there's not even a mention of other assistants. That's a big odd when considering how important the real NFL considers the offensive and defensive coordinators and the position coaches. Madden NFL 22 could take note and get that right if it wanted to make a move towards recapturing what made previous iterations so good.
There's another aspect that makes running the franchise so fun in MLB The Show that Madden NFL 22 could learn about. That's the fact that hiring and firing of coaches has an actual effect on how the team performs. Each manager and coach has certain ratings that will affect how their charges will play in game, and progress throughout the franchise. Madden NFL 22 coaching staffs would be more impactful if it had similar ratings adjustments.
The last thing that Madden NFL 22 could learn from MLB The Show 21 doesn't have anything to do with in-game content. Instead, the final thing the game can learn is that it should be launching on Xbox Game Pass, and it should be doing it the same day it releases everywhere else. This actually seems like less of an outlandish move than when MLB The Show 21 launched on Game Pass. After all, EA Sports and Game Pass already have a relationship through EA Play, so making Madden NFL 22 available on the platform actually seems like a no-brainer.
Madden NFL 22 is rumored to be in development.