Madden NFL 26 Reveals Big Gameplay Updates

Madden NFL 26 was revealed last month with a snazzy new trailer, but the developer at EA Sports held back most of the juicier, important details about gameplay for a separate drop to help build hype. That reveal happened today, giving fans their first real look at what to expect out of this year’s version of the hit football game. Of course, until we get extended hands-on with Madden NFL 26, it’s impossible to know how well these new features have been implemented, but some of these changes could go a long way to fixing a few lingering issues players have had with Madden’s gameplay over the last few years.

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The Madden NFL 26 devs can never please everyone. That’s not a realistic proposition given the massive playerbase. However, the developers have made it clear they are listening to fans and implementing fixes and updates when and where they make sense. The dev team also has a limited window to work on the yearly version of the game, so they have to be careful with what they target each year.

Madden 26 is largely about three things: Quarterback DNA, Coach DNA, and Football Weather. The latter was immediately noticeable when we went hands-on with the game at a recent preview event. If you play a game in the heavy snow or rain, visibility is at a minimum, and traction is hard to come by. It changes how you have to play, forcing you into more conservative playcalling, similar to what we see happen in real life.

The team says it has gone through and overhauled quite a bit in the passing game. For real football diehards, they’ll notice new ball holds and animations, while more casual players will enjoy better pocket movement and more signature running styles when QBs like Kyler Murray get out in space.

However, the most exciting addition to quarterbacks is happening on the AI side. In previous Maddens, playing against the computer would often start to feel similar from game to game. The Madden team has added 50 new player traits that influence decisions the AI makes against you. The team used Josh Allen’s “Run Over” trait, which makes him more likely to run through contact instead of sliding. It sounds like a small touch, but the hope is that this will make each quarterback feel unique when you come up against them in Offline Franchise play.

For the coaching side of things, Madden 26 has updated its playcalling model to make each coach feel unique. Dan Campbell is more likely to go for it on fourth down. Nick Sirianni is going to use a ton of RPOs and Zone reads. You get the picture. On top of that, the developers say that AI coaches will better learn your tendencies throughout a game and try to counter that with playcalling.

That’s just a snippet of all the gameplay changes Madden 26 is adding this year. The developer is also bringing the speed and player movement from College Football over to make speed matter more. They’ve added new depth chart positions like Edge and Gadget to give your lineup more versatility. And custom zones make it easier to counter the custom route stems given to wide receivers next year.

If you want to read through the full list of changes, be sure to check out the official notes in the deep dive blog. Madden NFL 26 launches on August 14th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. If you pre-order the deluxe edition, you can get in three days early.