Friday, 02 April 2021 18:18

When to Expect Madden NFL 22's Reveal | Game Rant

Written by Oliver VanDervoort
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As 2021 continues to tick towards the football season, Madden NFL 22 hasn't been officially revealed, but there's an indication of when it will.

Madden NFL 22 hasn't officially been announced just yet, but hat shouldn't make anyone who loves the series nervous in the slightest. While Electronic Arts might be best served to take a year off from the Madden NFL series, it's likely already working on the next installment. Since EA first started releasing the football video game on a yearly basis, it hasn't missed a season. It seems highly unlikely the lack of an announcement is hinting at anything other than the official reveal is simply going to come a bit later in the year.

Those who are anxious to get a look at Madden NFL 22 do have a way to tell when exactly they are going to get some new info. There's also reason to hope that not much in the way of official rumblings about the game could mean that it's going to get a revamping the series hasn't seen in a while. On the other hand, it has indeed been a while since the Madden NFL series has offered much beyond a few tweaks here and there and a roster update. At the moment, it's hard to know just what might be on offer, yet it's less difficult to figure out just when the community will get more info.

RELATED: What to Expect From Madden NFL 22

While Christmas and New Year's might be the time of year when the real NFL ramps up for the playoffs and Super Bowl, spring is the season when users can usually start to expect news on the next installment of the long-running video game series. There's no reason to believe that next installment won't get announced sometime in the next few weeks. On the flipside, the fact that rumors started about the game last month might not be a particularly good sign for those who are indeed hoping for something new. It could mean that Electronic Arts has largely yet another roster revamp coming to Madden NFL 22.

The full truth is that there's really no way to tell what EA has planned until it does the official reveal, but the Madden NFL 22 reveal could actually be coming later this month. As a general rule, it's still a bit too early to get a real feel when a full unveiling could take place. One of the earliest announcements that showed off both a cover star and gave a release date was six years ago. Back when EA announced Madden NFL 16, it officially unveiled the title on April 16. The timing, of course, was meant to be significant: April 16, Madden NFL 16. The reason the company bucked the trend and announced it so early is precisely because it wanted to tie into an exact date. Why it didn't pick May 16 or June 16, or even March 16 is another question, though.

While it's possible to extrapolate that this year's installment in the long-running series could follow suit from the 2016 version and pick April 22, that seems pretty unlikely, even if it's not impossible. EA announced the "final" update to Madden NFL 21 landed in March. It seems like the company might want people to digest and play that update before they started setting their sights on the next game. It's not out of the realm of possibility that some in the community, who have been unhappy with the latest iteration anyway, might discard it all together and move onto other games while they wait.

The video game community, in general, has seen plenty of games over the last year get delayed, or released with plenty of bugs in the case of Cyberpunk 2077. While Madden NFL 21 arrived on schedule last year, largely seemingly shrugging off the effects of the pandemic, it's possible it could still play a role in this year's version. Quite a bit of work on Madden NFL 21 was likely already done when the country and the world shut down.

On the flip side, it stands to reason a great deal of the work on Madden NFL 22 was done while people were working from home. Granted, the game doesn't have to be anywhere near done in order to put together but if the company is looking to keep the announcement fairly close to the actual release, which it has done in the past, and that release is going to be later than normal, then it stands to reason the unveiling will be later in the spring as well.

RELATED: How Madden NFL 22 Can Improve NFL 21's Face of the Franchise Mode

The most likely window for an official announcement for Madden NFL 22 is likely going to be late May or early June. While there have been a few official announcements in April, they are in the minority. A look at the last editions paints a fairly clear picture. Madden NFL 18 had a May 12 announcement date,  Madden NFL 17 also got unveiled on May 12, the previous year, and official news about Madden NFL 16 arrived on May 13.

Among the latest announcement dates in the series over the last few years, Madden NFL 19 official news didn't come until June 9. Considering it's not out of the question that Madden NFL 22 could miss its late July, early August window when it normally releases, due to the pandemic, it seems more likely than not that a reveal is going to be later, nearly into the summer. However, up until now, EA has not given any indication it had to push anything back in that regard. Perhaps the company was unperturbed by the adjustments that were needed for employees over the last year. Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that starting today the window for potential news is officially open.

Madden NFL 22 has not been announced yet.

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