[1] From 2004 until 2022, it was the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport.

He and game producer Joe Ybarra arranged a follow-up meeting with the broadcaster during an Amtrak train trip over two days because of Madden's fear of flying.

[3][6][7][8] The EA executives promised that the proposed game would be a sophisticated football simulation and they asked the retired Oakland Raiders coach for his endorsement and expertise.

Madden knew nothing about computers beyond his telestrator but agreed; he had taught a class at the University of California, Berkeley, called "Football for Fans", and envisioned the program as a tool for teaching and testing plays.

[7][10] Ybarra, who had played chess, not football, in high school, became an expert on the subject through his work, but found that 11 players overwhelmed contemporary home computers.

[12] In addition to submitting plays, Cooney worked with programmers and producers to create numerical ratings for every player so they would perform appropriately in the game, especially in man-to-man situations.

[7] During this period, Madden turned down the opportunity to buy an "unlimited" number of options for EA stock in its initial public offering, a decision he later called "the dumbest thing I ever did in my life".

Park Place had developed ABC Monday Night Football with "arcade-style, action-heavy" game play, and its Madden also emphasized hyperreality compared to the computer version's focus on exact simulation.

As its own Joe Montana-endorsed football game would miss the 1990 Christmas shopping season, Sega asked EA to let it sell Madden with the Montana name.

[15] EA's refusal to release Madden and other sports titles for the Dreamcast in 1999 contributed to the console's lack of success and Sega's exit from the hardware market.

Also, starting with Madden NFL 2004, EA Sports created the new Playmaker tool, using the right analog joystick found on each of the adjustments previously unavailable in prior installments of the franchise.

2005 also added "EA Sports Radio", a fictional show that plays during the menu screen of Franchise mode to provide a greater sense of a storyline during gameplay.

EA Sports Senior Producer Phil Frazier, up to 32 players were able to participate in competitive games, the NFL Draft and conduct trades between their teams.

[30] Compared to previous iterations, Madden NFL 10 has been extremely transparent with its development efforts, maintaining a weekly blog updates as well as a constant presence on various message boards.

Madden 10 has several new features including the PRO-TAK animation technology, which allows up to nine man gang tackles and fumble pile-ups to help players 'fight for every yard', in this year's tagline.

The release was delayed by two weeks due to the NFL lockout,[38] and features Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis on the cover.

Some of the new CCM features included player contracts, the ability to trade draft picks, a salary cap, and up to 30 seasons worth of gameplay.

[43] "Old School" player and Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders was chosen as the cover athlete for Madden NFL 25 on the April 24, 2013, episode of ESPN's SportsNation.

[48] EA decided not to have players vote for the cover athlete through a traditional bracket, but rather through collectible cards in Madden NFL Mobile, or through Ultimate Team on the console devices.

The cover of the next gen version is a picture of Madden celebrating his victory as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders at Super Bowl XI.

[70][71][72][73] In August 2006, EA Sports debuted NFL Head Coach, which utilized the Madden engine to create a football management simulation.

[79] Madden NFL 13 marked the debut of real-life announcing team Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, including them appearing in an in-booth cutscene before the game.

[89][90] Coaches and players at all levels of the sport such as K. J. Wright and Joe Brady[94] say that Madden has influenced them and recommend the game to learn football strategy and tactics, practice plays and assignments, and simulate opponents.

[89][5] Teddy Bridgewater, who has used Madden to practice plays since college at Louisville, created Brady's playbook in the game to help his backups P. J. Walker and Will Grier.

Wired in 2010 wrote that the growing use of rookie quarterbacks and the spread offense was influenced by the game, stating that "the sport is being taken over by something you might call Maddenball — a sophisticated, high-scoring, pass-happy, youth-driven phenomenon".

"[5][3][10] Football broadcasts on television use Madden-like visual cues to more closely resemble it, and the NFL considers the series its "33rd franchise" because each week during the season EA Sports receives the same searchable film database of every play that each of the league's 32 teams do.

[3] Museum of the Moving Image in New York City in early 2014 celebrated Madden NFL's 25th anniversary, with an exhibit including five playable versions of the game.

"[96] During the mid-1990s, the series came under increasing criticism for its exploitable AI in single-player mode, as certain plays would consistently trounce AI-controlled teams,[97] and came to be regarded as primarily a multiplayer experience.

[101] Since Madden NFL 06 on the seventh generation of consoles, Electronic Arts has received criticism for not evolving the Madden games for next generation consoles, while graphics have certainly improved, certain popular features from older games in the series have been removed for unknown reasons, then some come back in newer iterations slightly altered and advertised as a new feature.

[3][113] In 1998, Electronic Arts selected Garrison Hearst to appear on the PAL version's cover, although Madden remained on the North American release.