10 Recent Video Games That Were Too Big To Fail (That Did Anyway)
3. Madden NFL 21
Why It Was "Too Big"
EA's Madden NFL is quite literally the American football video game franchise, given the lack of competing AAA games for fans of American football.
Yet to be fair, Madden NFL has been a supremely consistent series over the last decade-or-so, with the majority of the releases landing 80+ Metascores. And so, it seemed that the franchise's singular dominance of American football games was absolutely well-deserved.
Why It Failed Anyway
But the wheels finally came off with NFL 21, which broke the series' long-standing critical winning streak with a Metascore of just 63.
Criticism was largely levelled against the bug-filled gameplay and EA's refusal to provide long-requested updates to Franchise mode, enough that "#FixMaddenFranchise" and "#NFLdropEA" began trending shortly following the game's release.
Many felt that they were simply paying money for a roster update and little else, given how few worthwhile changes NFL 21 made to the prior entry.
The Damage
The PR hit was significant, with the various hashtags trending enough to receive mainstream media coverage, all while fans continued to campaign for the NFL to take their license to another publisher.
The game sold well regardless, yet EA did at least appear to listen to the vocal criticism, as last year's NFL 22 received more broadly positive reviews, with many noting its massively improved Franchise mode.
This is a rare example of a failed game actually bringing about meaningful change, even if there's still much more work to be done.