One of the most popular video game franchises has announced it’s release date during Super Bowl week. Madden ’14 will be the 25th anniversary of the NFL video game, and what better timing to announce the release date than amid the Super Bowl festivities in New Orleans.
Madden ’14 will be released on August 27, 2013 and titled “Madden 25” in honor of the 25th year anniversary of the game.
“There’s no better way to celebrate and mark the culmination of 25 years of innovation than by naming this year’s game Madden NFL 25,” said Cam Weber, General Manager of American Football for EA SPORTS, via EA.com. “This year’s game will push the boundaries with gameplay and feature innovations that will lay a very strong foundation for the next 25 years of this storied franchise.”
So who will be on the cover of such a historic and significant cover for the franchise? Well EA is going to let the fans decide in a vote. But the eligible winners won’t be strictly limited to players currently playing in the NFL, they’ll have to compete with NFL legends as well for the cover spot. Voting will begin March 11th.
There will be two separate brackets for the cover. One featuring 32 NFL legends and a second featuring 32 current NFL superstars. The winners of the legends and modern superstars brackets will then go head to head in the final showdown. The brackets will be unveiled on ESPN2’s SportsNation show, March 11th, at 6:00 EST.
They did this last year and Calvin Johnson won with over 20,000,000 people casting votes and announced the winner in a big ceremony in Times Square.
“It’s great to be back with another year of the award-winning Madden NFL Cover Vote for a brand-new game that will be the deepest and most innovative in the history of the franchise when it launches in August,” said Anthony Stevenson, Senior Director of Marketing at EA SPORTS. “This year we’re posing the ultimate question of who’s more deserving; one of the NFL’s all-time greats or one of today’s hottest players?”
“This is the third consecutive year EA SPORTS and ESPN have collaborated on the Madden NFL Cover Vote in its current iteration,” added Raphael Poplock, Vice President of Games and Partnerships for ESPN. “Each year has brought record-setting results as NFL fans come out in droves to support their favorite players and teams, and by going big this year with legends facing off against the league’s current leaders, needless to say it will be an interesting vote with much debate and discussion.”
“SportsNation is built around social engagement and topics our young audience cares about, so the Madden NFL Cover Vote is a great fit for us, “said Jamie Horowitz, Vice President of Original Programming and Production for ESPN. “Our new host, Marcellus Wiley, played with the old school guys and Charissa Thompson is a new school fan, so I expect them to find fun ways to push this vote in social and on TV.”