Although the player response to Madden NFL 21 has been overwhelmingly negative, sales of the game were up 20% compared to the previous year’s installment in its first week of release. Madden NFL 21, which was released on August 6, debuted as the sixth bestselling game year to date.

Its success stacks up to that to its predecessors. For the past 21 years, the Madden NFL franchise release has the bestselling game in its release month, becoming the bestselling sports and third bestselling overall video game franchise in US history, according to Mat Piscatella, a video game industry analyst.

“After the most successful year in franchise history, fans are now playing more Madden than ever before. In the last weeks, players have shown their passion for Madden with a lot of great feedback and stellar engagement in Madden NFL 21,” said Seann Graddy, executive producer, Madden NFL.

The success of Madden NFL 21 is surprising, to say the least, given that it is one of the lowest-rated games in franchise history. On Metacritic, the game has a rating of 0.4 among PC users, which indicates an overwhelming dislike. Critics, however, give it mixed or average reviews, noting, “Innovative new gameplay mechanics in Madden NFL 21 deliver advanced levels of control and inspire creativity.”

Among critics, reviews remain the same for PS4 and Xbox One. For users, though, their score drops to 0.2 for PlayStation 4 and stays at 0.4 for Xbox One. Many have complained that the new installment offers nothing new, while others have stated that the game was “riddled with glitches and bugs” upon release.

Experts have suggested that the current COVID-19 pandemic has gamers anxious to get their hands on any new release, which might explain the success of Madden NFL 21. However, the game’s continued success seems to reveal that die-hard fans aren’t ready to give up on the franchise just yet.

Forthcoming sports releases include FIFA 21 on October 9 and NHL 21 on October 16. In addition, later this year, EA will also offer updated versions of FIFA 21 and Madden 21 available with the launch of the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X.

Source: Metacritic

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