EA Sports has promised a long list of improvements and feature additions for Madden NFL 26.
A gameplay deep dive delivered the details on these plans, which are centered around three key pillars — signature identity, community requests and foundational football. EA has listened to feedback from players and continues to fine tune the game’s core mechanics to bring it ever closer to what’s happening on the real field. It’s the first pillar that requires a bit more elaboration.
Signature identity includes two aspects. The first is to make every match of Madden NFL 26 a unique affair. The second is to transfer the unique identities of players and coaches from the NFL into the game and allow players to experience them there.
This begins with small details like the way different QBs prefer to hold the ball, which influences individual running and scrambling as well as throwing animations and the transitions between all of these things. This, in turn, touches on the responsiveness of the controls — the visuals and mechanics are intricately connected.
Aside from new general animations assigned to QBs based on their real-life style, EA added individual locomotion packages for Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes. New signature passes will be available to Caleb Williams, Matthew Stafford, Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. They will automatically trigger under certain conditions, reflecting the moments they’d be used in a real game.
QB simulation is more detailed than ever in Madden 26. The game will consider their height to decide whether they have a line of sight to their target, reducing their accuracy if their vision is blocked. This, EA hopes, will create a more interesting balance between tall QBs and those of smaller stature, who have higher mobility in return.
The addition of 50 brand-new player traits allows the AI to make full use of all the mechanics, serving as a guideline to how computer-controlled athletes behave. Trait assignments were made based on real NFL data, once again emphasizing the connection between game and real life.
Coach DNA follows a similar pattern, allowing the game to draw on real data to deliver strategic calls conforming to the style and typical decision-making of actual NFL coaches. Playing as the Detroit Lions, you’ll get strategy suggestions based on what the machine learning model would predict Dan Campbell to do — same for an AI opponent controlling the Lions. What’s more, the game will track the moves an opponent — AI or human — has made over the course of a match, trying to provide you with effective countermeasures when suggesting strategies. As the season progresses in real life, fresh data will be fed directly into the game to allow it to keep up with any trends.
Alongside AI-powered improvements, the game will feature a variety of weather conditions with impact on the action, changes to the movement speed to bring Madden 26 more in line with EA College Football 25, expand the available depth chart positions, and more.
Anyone curious about all the nitty gritty can dive into EA’s blog for the full gridiron notes.
