Hey Madden fans!

First up, thank you for your feedback during our Closed Beta. This year was our biggest and most successful beta for Madden NFL ever.

Today’s Gridiron Notes are straight from our developers discussing key topics from the feedback forum that are being worked on by the team. Our team continues working hard on the game as we approach worldwide launch on August 18. As always, Madden NFL is a live service with consistent updates and proactive roadmap. We look forward to sharing more details on our Title Updates via Gridiron Notes during the season.

Note: Superstar modes and certain Franchise mode features discussed here are not available on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One versions.

Top Issue:

Input latency - sometimes actions are missed or delayed

• DEV NOTE: This issue was particularly noticeable by players who tend to make rapid pre-snap adjustments. Fixing this has been our top priority, even going as far as reopening the closed beta environment to get additional testing on the fix. Based on player feedback and internal testing, Input latency has been significantly improved. For PC players, this issue was often confused with general lag or hitching. That was a separate issue which we’ve also addressed.

Gameplay:

• Pass Blocking Improvements  - Improved the Offensive Line’s ability to pick up Edge heat vs. pre-snap adjustments such as ‘Pinch’ DLine and user-defender stacking.
• Man Coverage Win Chance Tuning - Increased Receiver cut-move win-chances to appropriately balance passing game vs. man.
• Man Press Win Chance Tuning - Increased beat-press chance and Super Win animation chances to better reflect Receiver’s ability to beat the press.
• Pass Rush Disengage Tuning - Addressed issues where Pass Rushers would disengage off of a block then re-engage instead of being allowed to pursue the QB escaping the pocket.
• Match Coverage Fixes - Addressed issues where Deep Zone Defenders were letting a deep route go free to pick up shallow out breaking routes.
• Catch Tackle Knockout Tuning - Decreased trailing defender knockout chances when trailing behind receivers. More receivers will hold on since the ball is not being directly affected when pulling in the catch. 
• HB Screen Coverage Fix  - Changed the Man Coverage behavior on HB Screen plays so defenders are no longer psychic, they will not charge into the offensive backfield to cover the screen back and the Defensive Tackle does not sniff out the play so frequently.
• Fixed QB Stuck in Idle animation  - Addressed an issue where the QB would get stuck when snapping the ball during certain animations.
• Fixed Camera Changing (PC Only) - Addressed an issue where bringing up Coach Cam during pre-play would change the camera if a user first controlled the game with Keyboard and Mouse.
• AI Team Field Goal Attempt Logic - The AI team was attempting too many long field goals so we reduced the frequency so it would only happen in more appropriate last resort situations.
• AI Clock Management & Field Goal decisions - Offensive Teams will be more decisive with their timeout usage in both halves.

Franchise:

• Trade Tuning
  • Increased the loss in value when trading older players, adjusted the value of players at certain positions, and increased the value of CPU teams assets.
  • Dev Note: Trades will be something that we will monitor throughout the year, so keep the feedback coming!
• XP earned for Mini-Games within Weekly Strategy
  • Increased XP gained for completing mini-game drills for Focus Players during Weekly Strategy.
• QB Injuries during Franchise games
  • Increased the frequency in which QB injuries occur.
  • Dev Note: There is an injury slider that can be changed to accommodate the amount of injuries you would prefer to see during gameplay in Franchise. 
• Updated Relocation UI & Flow
  • Included new features to increase the accessibility of the UI and relocation options.
  • Dev Note: We’ve updated the relocation flow to include a preview of each team’s helmet, home uniform and logo to make the process of choosing your new team easier. In addition, we received feedback during the beta that it wasn’t clear enough that you could scroll from that screen, so we’ve also added a button hint to make it clear that there are multiple relocation options.

Superstar:

Based on community feedback we were able to identify and fix many of the top issues affecting Superstar Mode in the beta:

• Added League setting to toggle Dynamic Gameday Momentum/Home Field Advantage on/off.
• Fixed issue with certain mini-games not loading correctly from the Side Activities menu.
• Removed Practice Drills from side activities and replaced them with mini-games only.
• Tuning to increase starting ratings during avatar creation, per archetype.
• Removed the slow down and lean mechanic from the 40-yard dash combine mini-game and replaced with a ‘Dig Deep’ mechanic to accelerate through the finish line
• Tuned 40-yard dash mechanic to be more responsive. 
• Fixed issue sometimes preventing player grading from appearing in league games.
• Fixed issue sometimes preventing opening podcast video from appearing.
• Updated pacing of X-Factor reward - in the beta, the X-Factor was awarded at Level 2 of the progression path, this has been moved back to later in the progression path and will be awarded based on league-game wins.

Madden Ultimate Team:

• Bugs were identified and fixed surrounding issues with the New User Experience.
• 4K scaling issues in the UI addressed.
• General tuning of starting challenges.
• Adjustments to the user's starter team.

Presentation:

• Pregame
  • Added new stadium exterior cameras for opening shot.
  • Added text wipe to reinforce game type.
  • Updated animations and art in studio set environment.
  • Added scenes of cover athlete Josh Allen doing signature pregame handshakes with teammates.
• Touchdowns
  • For touchdowns that take the lead in the final 2 minutes of the 4th quarter or in overtime, we:
    • Fixed the broken cameras after a defensive touchdown.
    • Fixed the incorrect behavior in head coach shot.
    • Fixed the replay cameras.
• Player Wipe - This wipe now appears for sacks and touchdowns with a minimum “highlight score”.
• Post Play Sideline Shots - More players appear with helmet off on sideline.
• Madden Ultimate Team - Fixed broken gameplay camera in H2H Seasons and Squads.
• Online H2H - Reduced number of stadium exterior shots shown between plays.
• Superstar - Removed play art during preplay “step to line” broadcast camera.

Audio:

• Crowd
  • Fixed occasional issue where when loading into the game, there would be no crowd or on field sound effects.
  • Addressed feedback that the crowd was never booing in the game.
  • Increased crowd intensity for positive home team plays.
  • Fixed an issue where no individual crowd member voices were heard during gameplay.
  • Variety of feedback addressed around reaction sizes and overall volume of the crowd.
• Commentary
  • Addressed issues where incorrect stats for the ball carrier were called out at the end of the play.
  • Variety of issues addressed around open field and breakaway runs.
  • Significant tuning to commentary logic.
• Stadium SFX
  • Addressed feedback that stadium music and Public Address Announcer were difficult to hear in domed stadiums.
• On Field SFX
  • Fixed an issue when using Pistol Doubles Y, where QB Cadence would spam until snapping the ball.
  • Increased collisions and tackles overall in the mix to be more audible.
• Superstar
  • Polish pass and final mix were added post beta date.  
  • Fixed an issue where on field player chatter was heard in the main menu after quitting Showdown.
• Music
  • Added music back to the broadcast presentation.
  • Added stadium music.
  • Added EA Music to the main menu.

UI:

• Playcall - Transparency adjusted to improve visibility of Play Art
• Score HUD -Adjusted to improve visibility of Down & Distance

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Madden NFL 24 launches worldwide on August 18, 2023. Pre-order the Madden NFL 24 Deluxe Edition and play early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Answers HQ. Sign up for the Newsletter today to receive updates on Madden, and other EA news, products, and events, all season long.

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