Madden NFL 21 Event Delayed by Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts has opted to delay its reveal event for Madden NFL 21 in response to the unrest across the United States, the company announced this week. Protests taking place in cities across the county in response to the death of George Floyd and others in Black communities led EA to decide that it would “find another time to talk about football” with its fans. The game was originally supposed to have a larger reveal held on June 1st following the initial teaser which was shared during an Xbox Series X gameplay event. A new date for the event has not been set.

The incident involving Floyd’s death after an altercation with Minneapolis police and the ensuing protests across the United States prompted EA to release the statement below through its Madden NFL and EA Sports accounts. Released on Sunday, the message said that a reveal event for the new Madden game was supposed to take place on Monday, but those plans had changed.

“We stand with our African American/Black community of friends, players, colleagues and partners,” the statement from EA said. “Our immediate attention is on actions we can take to drive change against the unjust treatment and systemic bias that is plaguing the nation and our world”

The statement continued to say that there’d be other times to talk about football and this “this is bigger than a game” and sports overall. EA closed its message by urging people to “stand together and commit to change.”

EA is not the only company to postpone its announcements, events, or releases indefinitely in the wake of what’s happening across the United States. A big PlayStation 5 event from Sony was supposed to take place this week to show off some of the games that would be releasing for the next-gen console and perhaps other details about the system, maybe even a first look at the PlayStation 5 itself. The fourth season of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone and Call of Duty: Mobile was supposed to begin this week as well. All of those events have now been delayed for the time being with each company sharing similar messages about why they’ve chosen to postpone their announcements.

The Madden NFL 20 event does not yet have a new release date, though expect to hear more from EA on the game before the rescheduled event takes place.