Madden 21 trailer debuts with new gameplay mechanics

Madden 21 trailer debuts with new gameplay mechanics

Arrives August 25

There’s always a Madden game to look forward to. The changes have been incremental, evolutionary, and designed not to upset the status quo. Madden has a huge competitive side, after all, and any big change would affect the massive esports side of things.

But, when there are new console generations, you kind of do have an opportunity to make bigger changes. We saw it best with the jump from SD to HD gaming, and how Madden as a series shifted and offered more.

With Madden 21 and its cross-gen jump, though, the changes seem to still be ticking boxes, and will likely do so until the next gen fully takes over. That may be okay for the majority of players, as the last couple of Maddens were popular and tightly designed. The trailer highlights these box-ticks, like the new Skill Stick ball-carrier system that lets players more accurately control the dude with the ball as they deke away from defensemen. The Skill Stick will even help out a bit on the defensive side, as will new updates to pass rushes and open-field tackles. Finally, user-controlled celebrations will see a significant update in the game, allowing for more freedom in making an end zone dance.

The trailer above highlights the current gen offerings, so it’s unknown exactly what the PS5/Xbox SEX will change up or add. Owners of Madden on the Xbox One will be able to update to the Series X version later in the year, but owners of the PS4 disc-based version won’t be able to transfer their update to the all-digital version of the console.

Madden 21 arrives August 25 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and later for next gen consoles.

We expect more Madden news to come out of EA’s Play event later this week.