Madden 21: Lack of ‘Classic’ Franchise updates frustrates fans

The list of updates to Franchise mode in Madden 21 is slim and frustrating.

EA offered another gridiron update for Madden 21 today, detailing the franchise updates coming in this year’s game. The focus of today’s post was on two of the game’s main franchise modes: Face of the Franchise and Classic Franchise.

Face of the Franchise, Madden’s RPG-like story mode where you create a player and experience an NFL career, has a bunch of exciting improvements and additions.

You begin your journey in high school (where you can customize the school name, city and mascot) as a backup quarterback behind star QB Tommy Matthews. EA teases a sort of choose-your-own-adventure path that can shape your relationship with Matthews as your career progresses.

From there you go into the college portion of your career where you can sign with one of ten FBS schools. In college, you’ll have to deal with your own Quarterback controversy along with other distractions before heading to the Combine and Draft. Eventually, you’ll make it to the NFL where you’ll be able to experience a variety of stories “ripped from the headlines.”

EA has seemingly put a ton of its focus into Face of the Franchise and as a result, it seems Classic Franchise has, once again, gotten the shaft. Tucked away at the bottom of the post is a list of updates for Classic Franchise. An eight bullet list is all Classic Franchise is getting in terms of an upgrade.

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Things like new X-Factors, an expanded Wild Card Playoff, authentic rookie contracts, retuned abilities and some updated AI logic are highlighted in what feels more like a mid-season patch that a full-blown new game. And fans on Twitter and Reddit have certainly voiced their frustration with the lack of attention given to Classic Franchise.

As a primary Classic Franchise player, I’m also disappointed in the lack of meaningful updates for the mode. There’s no doubt that Franchise players make up a good portion of the Madden community, but Madden 21 once again drives home the point that EA would rather focus on the money-making potential of Ultimate Team.