Each episode of “It’s In The Game” had a specific theme to talk about the intricacies of Madden’s success. The producers even successfully managed to tell the story of the series chronologically. The end result is an impressive and comprehensive program with a solid finale to boot.
In the finale, titled “We Are Definitely In The Fourth Quarter”, viewers are treated to the glory years of Madden. In rather unsurprising fashion, these glory years also took place when the gridiron gaming competition was at its most fierce. After all that, the docuseries makes one more tie-in to the current day and the release of Madden NFL ’25.
The Glory Years
Every episode of “It’s In The Game” tied in to counting down to the release of Madden NFL ’25. The finale began with a preview event EA SPORTS hosted for influencers and media to demo the latest title. Much was riding on this first impression, but it was tough to tell why. The latter part aside, the latest Madden is often judged against the glory years of Madden. The story told from here was well done.
Many of Madden fans (myself included) consider the 2004 and 2005 versions to be the pinnacle of the series. Former Atlanta Falcons standout Michael Vick graced the cover of 2004, and he was pretty much a cheat code.
While Vick didn’t look like much physically, he had a cannon of an arm and unreal speed. Vick boasted outrageously high ratings of 95 in his speed and agility, along with 97 in throwing power. So if you used the Falcons, escaping the rush or throwing long bomb passes was possible anywhere on the field. Because of his abilities, when it came to competition, an overwhelming majority of players used Atlanta in online play. It was funny seeing all the footage EA had on this in the episode. It was no wonder the next game became all about the defense.
Madden NFL 2005, my personal favorite, was all about the defense. Featuring the imposing Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis on the cover, 2005 was where the “hit stick” originated. The hit stick allowed players to put the hurt on ball carriers with huge hits that often led to turnovers. This was one way EA allowed their players to essentially neutralize Vick users.
However way you spun it, Madden was fun, but they also weren’t alone.
The EA SPORTS Heel Turn
Episode 3 was mainly about the competition that EA SPORTS had with NFL GameDay and NFL 2K. While Madden eventually came out on top of GameDay, 2K really gave EA a run for its football money. As soon as it looked like Madden turned a corner with the presentation, 2K acquired the ESPN license. Then came the biggest punch. 2K got desperate and sold ESPN 2K5 for $19.99 at launch. At $30 cheaper upon release, 2K finally outsold Madden, but at what cost?
Everything.
The NFL entered an agreement with EA that gave them full video game exclusivity to the NFL license. This killed football for 2K, and to this day, fans are still clamoring for its return. There have been attempts at other football games from the same team, but they weren’t the same without the NFL license. The monopoly has existed ever since, and EA has struggled to gain back player trust.
“This is the year we need to win our players’ trust back.”
The legendary John Madden passed away three years ago, but his legacy is alive and well. The finale took time and honored his passing in the finale very gracefully, albeit in short fashion. There were kind words from players, and the producers really hit home when they talked about the game allowing his name to live on.
“We Are Definitely In The Fourth Quarter” was a reminder that it’s crunch time. The Madden team at Tiburon, the Madden NFL development team at EA SPORTS, was gearing up for launch. Launches are always an extremely hectic and stressful time for anyone in game development. With a game like Madden, developers constantly worry about both the game being playable and having a stable online infrastructure. Did EA SPORTS accomplish that? We’ve said more than we have to in these last four reviews, but I do have one bone to pick before I go into my final thoughts.
“This is the year we need to win our players’ trust back.” I didn’t feel like anybody explained why. Did Madden NFL ’24 fail? Was this more about the company’s reputation, especially in regards to their ongoing exclusivity deal with the NFL? Or is it just marketing speak? Madden is an annualized product. Unless the drop some bombshell of an announcement that they won’t, we’re going to get a Madden NFL ’26. And when we do, that’ll be the most important release in Madden history. It’s the same story year after year, so I don’t see why this is the year you need to have anyone’s trust back.
Final Series Thoughts
This is where I go into first-person to talk about my overall thoughts on the docuseries.
If you read any of my reviews for the previous three episodes of the docuseries, first off, thank you.
Anyway, you probably came away knowing one thing about me that I made evident with every review: I used to work at EA. I think that this, along with my deeply rooted fandom for football, give me a particularly interesting perspective on the show. I’ve walked a lot of these halls, and I knew a handful of these people. I worked with Ian Cummings at Glu, who was featured prominently in the finale as a producer and director on Madden. The show felt like a nice trip down memory lane despite the fact that I never worked on Madden. To this day, working on Madden in any capacity would be a dream job for me if EA ever brought me back.
Quick Thoughts, Episode By Episode
Sentimentalities aside, the show had some interesting points along with its hits and misses. Though I’m a lifelong fan of Madden, I never became an annual player until Madden NFL 2001. This made the episode 1, “Can A Computer Make You Cry?”, a nice watch for me. I didn’t play any of the old sprite-based entries, so I thought it was pretty cool seeing where it all started. Seeing Trip Hawkins refuse to bring Madden to consoles and then proposing what he did with Sega was definitely jarring. I actually talked to current Senior VP Daryl Holt about that, and appreciated the candid feel of that section.
Episode 2, “Pressure Makes Diamonds”, was my favorite episode of the docuseries. Again, since I didn’t play Madden until 2001, I didn’t know about Gordon Bellamy and his contributions. One thing I didn’t mention in my review of the episode was he was EA’s Rookie of the Year, and it’s easy to see why. His later work on MTV, the IGDA, THQ, and Activision didn’t come as a surprise when I did more research on him. Still, knowing what he did to get a job at EA and the risks he took to make sports games what they are today are simply incredible. I’d love to talk to him sometime.
I appreciated Episode 3, “Everything’s Fine And We’re Shipping On Time”, because it showed the company wasn’t perfect. There are repercussions to failure. EA let go of a bunch of people when Madden skipped a year, and John Madden himself didn’t seem to bat an eye at it. Speaking of John Madden, seeing him work not only as a commentator but as a coach to the development team was eye-opening. He isn’t a gamer, but seeing what he did to bring his video game series back to the top was some stuff of legend. It was hilarious seeing him curse too.
Episode 4, “We Are Definitely In The Fourth Quarter” was a nice way to close the docuseries. It made me nostalgic for both Madden NFL 2004 and 2005, and I learned more about one of my former colleagues in Ian Cummings. While I’m name dropping, I also have to shout-out sort of my old boss Ryan Ferwerda, Tiburon’s Head of Mobile at Tiburon. He was the Packers fan taking a selfie toward the end of the finale.
Tangent aside, I felt another sense of sentimentality when the show talked about John Madden’s passing. When I started watching the show, I was wondering if they’d talk about the exclusivity deal with the NFL and John Madden’s passing, so I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied to see the episode bring up both. I didn’t like, however, that they omitted the fact that EA brought down the cost of Madden to $30 in response to what 2K did with ESPN NFL 2K5.
Who is this for, exactly?
All of this said, it goes back to the question I had when I finished the pilot: Who is this for, exactly?
I absolutely enjoyed the docuseries, and I enjoyed it so much that I had my girlfriend watch the finale with me. I’m going to recommend it to my brother on Thanksgiving when we’re chilling after finishing dinner and football. But I’m different. Not only do I love football, I love Madden, and I also worked at EA. EA didn’t make this for people who love football and also worked at EA.
It’s a bit of a cop-out, but Daryl Holt said this is for everybody when I interviewed him after finishing Pressure Makes Diamonds. While he’s not wrong, I don’t see grandma enjoying it. Still, a series that sold well over 130 million copies in the three decades it has existed is deserving of a docuseries. It’s a fun watch at that.
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