The idea that there’s no noticeable difference between the yearly iterations of EA’s annual sports series is a popular, if slightly unfair, joke within gaming circles. While Madden and FIFA 20 aren’t exactly weighed down by new features, I’d say there’s probably enough to set them apart from last year’s efforts. Sadly for EA, it seems it’s not doing as much as it can to help put those jokes to bed.
Last night on Reddit, user BalloonSlayer47 posted a clip from Madden 20, which launched last month. Their video, focused not on the on-pitch action but the stands, opens on a distant Madden logo, before panning to a Madden 20 logo closer to the side of the pitch.
From there, it pans back to the original logo, which, on closer inspection, is very clearly branding for last year’s entry, Madden 19. Which, of course, should probably have been phased out of the series sometime ahead of the launch of its sequel.
Fans have put forward multiple reasons as to why this might have happened. Without major graphical improvements, there’s little need to revamp stadiums. Assuming EA continues to work with similar code year-on-year, an out-of-the-way graphic could very easily have gone unnoticed.
Wow, EA. Wow. from r/gaming
Still, that’s unlikely to curry much favour with the wider community, who have taken the opportunity to have a laugh at the developer’s expense. We’ve reached out to EA for more information, and we’ll update this story if we learn more.