Tom Brady is the latest NFL star to grace the cover of the legendary Madden video game series. EA Sports and Brady are putting the Madden Curse to the test with the newest version of the football video game.
“The Madden NFL 18 cover is a great honor for me,” Brady said in an EA Sports release. “Especially since I have been playing the game since growing up next to EA headquarters in the Bay Area. I’m not one to believe in curses, so I’m ready to take the challenge head on like always! It doesn’t stand a chance!”
EA Sports revealed the cover athlete on Friday, giving us a peek at their G.O.A.T version of the game that officially comes out on August 25.
G.O.A.T. Edition owners, however, can get the game three days early. EA Access members can get 10 hours of game time in starting a week earlier with an EA Access Play First Trial. And those same EA Access members can get a 10 percent discount on a digital version of the latest Madden. EA also released a video of the game engine at work, teasing a new game mode that the company will reveal at EA Play on June 10.
“This year will offer a Madden like you’ve never seen before.,” said Josh Rabenovets, senior director of global product marketing at Electronic Arts. “It starts with Frostbite, Electronic Art’s state-of-the-art engine that powers many of our world-class games.”
Frostbite has been used in Star Wars Battlefront, Battlefield 1 and sports titles like FIFA 17. For this year’s Madden, using Frostbite means a more “photorealistic” Madden experience for players. That’s definitely the case in the video EA released, though we’ll have to see how it plays later this summer.
Putting Brady on the cover marks the first time teammates have appeared on a Madden cover in consecutive years. ‘Madden 17’ featured Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, but after a stunning Super Bowl comeback the folks at EA didn’t have to leave the team to find its next cover star.
“There was little discussion of two cover athletes from the same team in consecutive years. The opportunity to work with Tom Brady was too good to pass up,” Rabnovets said. “This was the perfect storm.”
