Related Articles
Madden NFL 22 is going to be here in less than two months, and EA has released a new video detailing some of its new Dynamic Gameday features via producer and former NFL player Clint Oldenburg.
In the video deep dive, Oldenburg outlines three major components of Dynamic Gameday: gameday atmosphere, gameday momentum, and Next Gen Stats Star Driven AI. These features are only available on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, so those still gaming on Xbox One and PS4 shouldn’t expect a radically different experience.
Dynamic Gameday aims to make every game and even every play feel distinct and unique, and for those who have poured dozens of hours into any sports game, they know that games can start to blend together.
With Gameday Atmosphere, the personality of each NFL stadium and the teams’ fans will be brought to life, including via special “Super Fans” and more crowd noise and celebrations. These crowd features can even make it harder for a quarterback to call audibles or a receiver to make a tough route to the end zone.
The Gameday Momentum feature will be very apparent, as well, with a meter at the top showing which team’s direction it’s swinging in. This will give that team perks, such as being able to leave a kicker “iced,” removing receiver icons from the other team’s UI, or making it more difficult for a player to perform a hot route, and with a home field advantage factor unique to each stadium, it will always be more difficult for visiting teams to get the edge.
These aren’t random, but are based on famous factors from the stadiums, like lower stamina in the thin air of Denver or harder kicks in the windy Chicago.
Oldenburg said that over the last two years, more than 80% of Madden games were played against the computer, and with Next Gen Stats Star-Driven AI, these have received an upgrade. These will make them act more like their real-world counterparts and more like the players they’re based on, affecting how they make decisions under pressure, how well they throw while on the run, how well ball-carriers can break tackles, and many more situations. Teams have their own AI tendencies, too, like the Steelers’ blitz-heavy defense and the run-heavy Ravens offense.
These big changes are joined by smaller gameplay improvements, including better foot detection when catching a ball near the sidelines and more realistic animations for running backs when they’re tackled. You can see it for yourself when Madden 22 releases on August 20 for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Stadia, and it’s available three days early via the MVP Edition–you can preorder it now.
