''Madden NFL Mobile'' is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
sports game
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...
based on the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
, developed and published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
. An entry in the ''
Madden NFL
''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...
'' series, the game was released for
Android and
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
devices on August 26, 2014.
Gameplay
''Madden NFL Mobile'' (MM) began as a mobile version of Madden Ultimate Team (MUT), with features like players and cards being available. To earn these, players participate in "Live Events", which can earn them card packs and coins. Another mode that is available is a season mode. In prior versions of Madden Mobile, this was called "Season" mode, which allows players to play a full 16-game season, which extends to the
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
. This feature was removed in MADDEN OVERDRIVE, but was reintroduced in 2020 as "seasons".
Being a
freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...
game, players can spend real-life money to purchase packs, in game currency, and "Bundles" that include a certain number of packs and a topper of an item. The game is also level-based, and features like bonuses for rewards that increase as one reaches higher levels. There is also another mode labeled "Leagues" where players may join or create a league alongside other players that face in Tournaments against other leagues, offering a chat box, goals with rewards such as players and tokens. The ability for players to send other players within the league packs was discontinued with MM 2017.
The game itself features standard football rules, such as scoring mechanics including
touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...
s,
field goal
A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...
s, and
safeties
Safety is the condition of being protected against harmful conditions or events, or the control of hazards to reduce risk.
Safety may also refer to:
Places
* Safety Island, Antarctica
Government
* The Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating t ...
. It also features real plays categorized as "long passes", "short passes", "play action passes", and "run" plays for the offense; "man coverage", "zone coverage", and "blitz" plays for the defense. It also features multiple special plays available at any point including
punts,
fake punt
A fake punt is a trick play in gridiron football. It involves a running or passing play run out of a punt formation.Examples include:
A fake punt can take a number of different forms. The punter may simply take the snap and look to throw a f ...
s,
field goal
A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...
s,
quarterback kneel
In American football and Canadian football, a quarterback kneel, also called taking a knee, genuflect offense, kneel-down offense, or victory formation, occurs when the quarterback immediately kneels to the ground, ending the play on contact, ...
s,
spikes
The SPIKES protocol is a method used in clinical medicine to break bad news to patients and families. As receiving bad news can cause distress and anxiety, clinicians need to deliver the news carefully. By using the SPIKES method for introducing a ...
, and
fake field goal A fake field goal is a trick play in American football. Simply, it involves a running or passing play done out of a kick formation. Usually the holder (often the punter or backup quarterback on most teams) will throw or run. Less frequently, the pl ...
s. There are also up to four different styles for
kickoffs,
kick returns, punt,
punt returns
In gridiron football, a punt is a kick performed by dropping the ball from the hands and then kicking the ball before it hits the ground. The most common use of this tactic is to punt the ball downfield to the opposing team, usually on the final ...
(left, right, middle, duplicates, onside kicks, etc.) The game is connectable with
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
to allow for more social features, though players can also create unlinked accounts.
Seasons
Seasons have been a part of a game since the start, however have been changed every year and were eviscerated in Madden Overdrive. In Madden Mobile 20, they were brought back and new features were added to make it a more realistic experience for the player.
There are multiple seasons modes, including 2022 NFL season involving the realistic season and managing teams.
Events
Events is a game mode in which players may participate in various challenges for rewards. Typically, there is no charge to play Events once, but replays of some events must be played using an in-game reward token called "Blitz Tokens". The use of "Stamina" to play events was eliminated with the launch of Madden Overdrive and was reintroduced in season six.
Completing these events earn the player rewards, such as card packs, coins, players,
experience point
An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experi ...
s, or one of the program specific currencies that were rolled out with the Madden Overdrive version of the game. There are also seasonal live events for things such as
Black Friday,
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
, and
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, Easter as well as
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
and
Playoff
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
Recap events. Every day of the week, there are new live events.
Head to Head
Madden Overdrive did away with the Head to Head mode with Madden Overdrive, replacing it with the game's namesake "Overdrive" mode. Madden NFL Overdrive removed the original head-to-head format and replaced it with the Overdrive mode. This new take on Head to Head features real-time multiplayer for the first time in franchise history, in which both players try to score as many "Fantasy Points" as possible in a 3-minute game.
Blitz Tournaments
Originally implemented in MM18, Blitz Tournaments were a mode that took place every weekend that put opponents in a head-to-head match, usually with a modification to the gameplay (i.e. Only being able to call pass plays, having a limited amount of plays to score, etc.). Players had to get as many wins as possible over the course of the weekend, with the top players receiving sought after player cards as a reward. This mode was released to overwhelming success, becoming one of the most popular game modes in Madden Mobile's history.
When Madden NFL Overdrive launched, the mode was not initially included in the game, which came as both a shock and disappointment to many returning players. However, the mode was re-released in December 2018, with a few changes. Now, blitz tournaments run through the entire week, instead of just the weekends. Tournaments now use Overdrive instead of the original head-to-head mode, and have yet to include any gameplay modifiers in the tournaments thus far. Doing well in these tournaments awards players with a currency they can use for a variety of rewards, including elite and diamond players, grab bag packs, and 94 OVR Blitz Tournament Masters. While the mode is popular, it most likely will not see the success it had the year before.
Leagues
Joining a League will give the player user interaction with other players inside the game. In a league, one can play each other in a head-to-head match for bragging rights. There are League Tournaments that a league can play in as a team: all players participating in the tournament will have three drives to score as high as possible against another league. The rewards of tournaments is league XP, used to level up. Finally, there are League Championships, in which players compete against each other in a championship tournament that will rank them based on their performances in the tournament.
Auction House
The Auction House is a place where players may bid/buy cards. While since its inception, the Auction House was a place where players could buy items being sold by other players, that system was changed mid-season in MM 18 to a brokered auction house, in which a bot acts as an intermediary between players buying and selling their cards.
Bidding
Bidding is an offer (often competitive) to set a price tag by an individual or business for a product or service ''or'' a demand that something be done. Bidding is used to determine the cost or value of something.
Bidding can be performed ...
allows the player to bid slowly against others with a slightly lower chance of winning the item. Buying the item allows the player to immediately end the bidding process and earn the item for the amount bought for. The player may not buy the item if the buy price is less than the bidding price. A common activity on the Auction House is referred to as "sniping," or buying items for low prices as soon as they are available and reselling them for profit. The Auction house shuts down a few days before a new season begins, but posting to the Auction House is disabled 3 days prior to going down. Ten percent of the coins made on the transaction are deducted as a tax. The auction house became no longer available in MM22.
Players
Players come in the form of cards or captains. Cards can vary in power, scarcity, tier, and the stats on the card. All cards feature a power, a key aspect of the player's team which determines their performance in all multiplayer game modes, such as Overdrive and Arena. Captains are exclusive to the Overdrive game mode, and give boosts to the player's team. They also give a Captain Bonus when the player completes the bonus objective, which gives the player extra points in the match. Different Captains can be unlocked in several ways, including completing a fixed amount of matches or scoring a certain number of points with a captain.
Packs
Packs are another element to the game. Prior to the launch of Madden Overdrive, it was a major element. However, most traditional packs were eliminated and were replaced by packs purchased with various tokens and currencies available in-game. However, some packs require spending of actual money, in the form of Madden Cash. There are many different packs available for different times and lengths. Some packs such as the Pro Pack are available 24/7, while others (such as Super Bowl) are available for a few days. Packs could include rare collectibles, bronze to onyx players, etc. and vary in value.
There are uniforms for all 32 teams and some special uniforms. The default uniform depends on the team being used. Some special uniforms come out for example throwback uniforms and special uniforms for the events. Uniforms may be purchased with in-game coins, cash, and gems. They may also be obtained through packs.
Release
The game received a
soft launch
A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...
on the Canadian
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
on August 12, 2014.
The game was released on the
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
App Store
An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
and on Android's
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...
, the same day that ''
Madden NFL 15
''Madden NFL 15'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports. The game was announced for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on April 28, 2014, and was released on ...
'' was released on console. A large update, coinciding with the release of ''
Madden NFL 16
''Madden NFL 16'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. ''Madden 16'' introduced the new game mode "Draft Champion ...
'', was released in August 2015. The new features were added in the season such as achievements, league improvements, a redesigned hub, more Live Events, and better tuning. Seasonal updates for ''
Madden NFL 17
''Madden NFL 17'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League and published by EA Sports for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. As the 28th installment of the '' Madden NFL series'', the g ...
'' and ''
Madden NFL 18
''Madden NFL 18'' is an American football sports video game based on the National Football League, developed and published by EA Sports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The 29th installment of the '' Madden NFL series'', the game features New En ...
'' were also released. For the 2018–19 season, the game was renamed to Madden NFL Overdrive. It was renamed back to Madden Mobile for the 2019–20 season.
Reception
''Madden NFL Mobile'' got mixed reviews. On ''
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
'', the game got 68%. ''
Pocket Gamer
''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...
'' gave it 7 out of 10 and said that "Madden NFL Mobile has come a long way, but it feels like it could still go a bit further. It's absolutely worth a look if you're a fan, but it's probably not going to rock your world." ''
Phandroid'' said that "Whether the annoyances of microtransactions and modern-day mobile gaming annoy you, we at least appreciate that there’s a pretty good game beneath the green veil of dollar bills EA decided to decorate it with.".
Compatibility
From season 5 to season 7 gaming controllers could be connected to mobile devices to play. This was not available in season 8.
References
{{Madden NFL games
2014 video games
Android (operating system) games
IOS games
Free-to-play video games
Madden NFL
Electronic Arts games
EA Sports games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games developed in the United States