Madden NFL 26 Wants to Make Superstar Mode Fun Again

Twenty years ago, EA Sports introduced the player-centric Superstar mode into its Madden series. It lets you take a single NFL player and guide them through their entire career. The mode has had its ups and downs over the years, but to celebrate the milestone, Madden NFL 26 is giving the mode a much-needed facelift with “three new core features.” It’s hard to know for sure how good the changes will be until Madden 26 is in our hands, but everything EA shared in the Madden NFL 26 Superstar deep dive seems promising.

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The first new feature is called Career Chapters. This is, essentially, how Madden is breaking your career into various stages. The developers have gone through every stage of Madden 26, from backup to star, to try to make Superstar mode more engaging.

For example, when you’re stuck behind a starter early in your career, you’ll come in for mop-up and injury replacement duty instead of ramming your head against the same drills each week. EA wants the mode to feel more organic and less like you’re checking things off a list. Fans will also be pleased to hear that one of the new chapters lets you demand a trade, a much-requested feature for Superstar mode over the last few years.

As you progress through each chapter, you’ll meet new NPC characters and add them to your Sphere of Influence. Managing these relationships will help decide the direction your career takes. Want to develop a better connection with your star wideout? Take him to dinner. Would you rather improve your backside blocking? Spend the weekend with your left tackle.

Through this, you’ll develop an inner circle. EA says these should remind you of the many iconic duos from NFL history. Think Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski or Randy Moss and Cris Carter. Developing relationships with your teammates and coaches will give you access to new abilities, letting you influence their development to make your team even better.

Finally, the team is introducing a third feature called Game Day Beats. The goal here is to make Superstar mode feel more dynamic by giving you new challenges each week. Your opponent might have a modifier changing how they play, or that week’s game might take place in heavy snow. EA promises “more than 500 different Game Day Beats at launch.”

If those changes really do make each week feel different, it should go a long way to make Superstar feel less like a slog. In previous versions, Superstar mode consistently underwhelmed and felt like a checklist. Hopefully, these changes will make the mode more dynamic, returning the mode to its former glory.

The developers shared several more details in the deep dive. If you want to read through everything, make sure to check out the official site. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait too much longer to get Madden NFL 26 in our hands. It’s set to launch on August 14th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. You can jump in three days early if you preorder the Deluxe Edition or MVP Bundle.