The game's Sega Genesis version was developed by Blue Sky Productions, which was simultaneously creating Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss.

John Madden Football '93 adds new animations and features, and it allows players to play as and against famous teams such as the Oakland Raiders of 1976.

Critics awarded the game high scores and praised its updated graphics; but several reviewers complained that little had changed since John Madden Football '92.

[1] New features in John Madden Football '93 include no-huddle offense, overturning certain calls made by referees, taunting, stumbling, head-butting and one-handed catches.

[11] John Madden Football '93 was developed for the Sega Genesis by Blue Sky Productions (credited as "Looking Glass Technology"),[1][12][13] which was simultaneously working on Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss.

[14][15] Neurath said that Electronic Arts was dissatisfied with the work that another studio had been doing on John Madden Football '93, and that the publisher was "scrambling to find a [replacement] team" to meet the game's rapidly approaching deadline.

Blue Sky received the source code of John Madden Football '92 and had to develop a sequel in five months.

[1] In 1991, Neurath contracted the outside programmer Mark Lesser, who had previously worked on Mean 18, to develop the game's technical aspects.

[10] Sega's competing title, the Joe Montana-endorsed NFL Sports Talk Football '93, had received the license that year.

[13][14] Paul Mellerick of Mega commented that "the only noticeable difference between [John Madden Football '93] and its two predecessors is the animation".

[20] A writer for GamePro noted that John Madden Football '93 was "at first glance" largely identical to its predecessor; but he believed that, "once you get down to serious business, you'll notice a wealth of All-Star enhancements".

[2] The staff of Mean Machines Sega called the game "hopelessly redundant" and "very, very disappoint[ing]", and they believed that the John Madden Football series was "on its last legs".

He concluded that the series was now roughly even across the two consoles, and he wrote that the game was "a strong candidate for SNES Sports Cart of the Year".

[4] After the game's development concluded, programmer Mark Lesser was contracted by Electronic Arts to work on NHL '94, a series that he remained on "for many years".

Neurath believed that the size of these royalties led Electronic Arts to develop future Madden games in-house, in order to maximize profit.