Madden NFL 23 cover to feature John Madden himself

To celebrate the 34th anniversary of the American football game series Madden NFL, EA Sports is making the cover of this year’s edition of the game, Madden NFL 23, feature John Madden himself. EA Sports will honour the former Super Bowl champion with three different cover images. 

Following Madden’s passing on December 28, 2021, as well as the anniversary of the EA Sports’ longers-running game series, the publisher has decided to grace the cover of its upcoming edition of the title with the legend himself.

One cover will feature Madden as a coach, another one will feature him as a broadcaster, and the third cover will be a recreation of the 1988 John Madden Football cover design with a “Thank You, Coach” message, made by artist Chuck Styles for the All-Madden Edition.

Tribute to the legend

Besides returning as a face of the Madden NFL 23, the Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster John Madden, who died last December at the age of 85, will also receive an in-game tribute. The game will feature Madden’s voice from his days as an award-winning commentator, as well as the special Madden vs. Madden interactive experience, that will include two generations of Madden-led NFL teams in a fight against each other.

Mike Mahar, EA Tiburon’s senior producer for the Madden NFL series, commented at a cover reveal event last week:

“There are so many ways that we’re trying to live up to, aspire to, the legend that Coach Madden was, in our game this year.”

“A pervasive theme this year is living up to the standard and the passion that Coach had for authentic, 11 v. 11 football.” 

This is the first time in two decades that John Maddern returns to the cover of EA’s Madden NFL, with the last edition featuring his face being the 1999’s Madden NFL 2000. Last year’s edition cover boasted Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. 

Madden NFL 23 is expected to launch for PC, Playstation and Xbox in August before the NFL’s regular season kicks off.  The reveal trailer for the title is set to come out on Thursday, June 2. 

EA’s plans to support the good cause 

Besides celebrating the legendary coach, Electronic Arts has also unveiled its plans to use funds from the recently revealed John Madden Legacy Commitment to Education. Half of the $5 million commitment will be reportedly used to create the EA Madden Scholarship, while the other $2.5 million will be directed to four local programming education nonprofits. The scholarship, made in partnership with the United Negro College Fund, will support graduates at 12 Historically Black Colleges. 

Header: EA Sports