Madden 21‘s Development team put out their newest installment of the Gridiron Notes titled “Franchise Updates Coming to Madden NFL 21.” It detailed, well, the franchise updates coming in their November Title Update. It will be the first of three scheduled franchise updates throughout the year. Although it may not look like a lot, it could be a good sign of things to come.
1. X-Factor/Superstar Ability Customization:
This new feature will allow users in both Online and Offline leagues to change a players superstar abilities. Once a player gets a Superstar X-Factor development trait, you will be able to change their abilities. Both SS and SS XF abilities will be editable via the Edit Player tab. Since the X-Factor system was introduced last year, this has been apart of many franchise gamer’s wish-lists. This is good for players wanting a simulation experience and a step forward to fleshing out the abilities system.
2. Player Card Career/Weekly Stats:
After building Madden NFL 13 from scratch, for some reason, the developers decided not to fully flesh out the stats tab. In this new update, season stats in the player card will now show the player’s team he was on that season. There will also be a more in-depth weekly stats tab that will show the week, opponent, and outcome of each game. This was a very small, albeit needed, update to franchise, coming this November.
3. Development Trait Regression Tuning:
This is tuning for the regression of player’s development traits and abilities. Dev trait regression needed to be tuned in order for the league to be realistic and not littered with X-Factors and Superstars four years down the line. This update does just that and should help level out the playing field for long lasting franchises.
4. Virtual Playoff Bracket:
This is a small feature added to franchise which will show a virtual playoff bracket, with the new wild-card format included. Although it’s not a big feature, it does make it easier for us to see how the playoffs are shaping up, rather than going to the schedule tab.Although this update isn’t a lot, it is a sign of good things to come. It shows that EA will try to improve the game mode they have neglected over the last eight or so years. Two more updates like this and we could be sitting pretty for a flurry of new fixes and features for Madden 22. Although this was made nearly four months ago, this wish-list still holds true, and hopefully we can have these features added by Madden 22.
