

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.

Hawkins first approached his favorite player Joe Montana to endorse the proposed game but the quarterback already had an endorsement deal with Atari Inc., and his second choice, Cal coach Joe Kapp, demanded royalties. After founding Electronic Arts in 1982 -"The real reason that I founded was because I wanted to make computerized versions of games like Strat-O-Matic", Hawkins later said -the company began designing a microcomputer football game. At Harvard College, where Hawkins played football for the Crimson, he wrote a football simulation for the PDP-11 minicomputer which, he later said, predicted that the Miami Dolphins would defeat the Minnesota Vikings 23–6 (actually 24–7) in the 1974 Super Bowl. The game was unsuccessful due to its complexity, and he hoped to one day delegate its rules to a computer. Trip Hawkins created a clone of the Strat-o-Matic paper and dice-based football simulation game as a teenager. The real reason that I founded Electronic Arts was because I wanted to make computerized versions of games like Strat-O-Matic. EA has released annual versions since 1990, and the series' name changed to Madden NFL in 1993 after EA acquired the rights to use NFL teams and players. Because of Madden's insistence that the game be as realistic as possible, the first version of John Madden Football did not appear until 1988. As of 2013 the franchise has generated over $4 billion in sales, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises on the market.Įlectronic Arts (EA) founder Trip Hawkins conceived the series and approached Madden in 1984 for his endorsement and expertise. Among the series' features are detailed playbooks and player statistics and voice commentary in the style of a real NFL television broadcast. Since 2004, it has been the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has sold more than 130 million copies as of 2018. Madden NFL (known as John Madden Football until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. Amiga, Super NES, Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, 3DO, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Windows, macOS, MS-DOS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Saturn, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Android, BlackBerry PlayBook, Arcade
