EA Sports held a live stream yesterday for Madden NFL 25 to explain and show off the improvements to gameplay that have been the marketing focus since E3. It turned out to be a fairly valuable watch with a lot of information relating to the new features, issues the development team attempted to address, and the thinking behind it all. There’s a difference between reading about all the various gameplay-related features and actually having them shown and discussed in a manner that gets across how people will benefit from them while playing.
There are still plenty of deficient aspects even seen on display in the stream, and the “Tackle Cone” would seem to be a gimmick that doesn’t really justify its presence within the context of actual gameplay, but the nice thing is the issues aren’t being hidden and some are even flat out being admitted to. There’s no attempt being made to mislead consumers and instead the effort is to inform of where the game actually has improved and what that means for addressing other areas in the future. It may not be enough to convince those who are skeptical to get on board, but it’s how the process of regaining lost consumer confidence needs to begin.