Madden NFL 24 Mostly Fixes The Worst Part Of Madden 23 (2024)

It's rare for annual sports video game franchises to make major changes year-to-year, but Madden NFL 24 is completely revamping one of Madden NFL 23's most hated features. For the most part, the upgrades to the Madden system this year are surface-level, if not minimal. Madden NFL adds over 500 optional plays to the game, for a greater variety of offensive and defensive options. The latest installment also introduced the FieldSENSE feature, which improves simulated players' AI to make them act more realistically on the field. To further that, Madden 24 updates all the character models in the game with the new SAPIEN skeleton, to ensure more lifelike movement.

However, sometimes enough negative feedback about a particular feature in one game can affect how it changes in a sequel. Madden NFL 23 certainly got that in spades, and looking at Madden NFL 24, it's apparent how criticism has influenced this year's successor.

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Madden NFL 24 Fixes Franchise Mode

Last year's Madden Franchise Mode was wildly unpopular, but Madden NFL 24 has made a conscious effort to fix its predecessor's mistakes. Franchise Mode is one of 10 game modes available in Madden 24. Some modes are exclusive to particular platforms, but Franchise Mode is universally available wherever Madden 24 is playable. It's equivalent to what other sports games have called Manager or GM Mode in that it lets players take executive control of a team, making hiring, firing, and other day-to-day decisions in an attempt to get to the Super Bowl.

Madden 23's Franchise Mode was broken. Its features were lacking, its simulations progressed unrealistically, and its difficulty was permanently fixed at a too-easy level. Moreover, Franchise Mode was plagued by bugs, to the point that it often shut down for days at a time. Some players would log in when it finally came back online, only to find that their save files had been lost in the ether. It was a frustrating experience, and one that raised expectations for Franchise Mode in Madden NFL 24. To that end, and in addition to widespread bug fixes, this year's Madden improves Franchise Mode across three categories: realism, customization, and new features.

Realism Improvements In Madden 24's Franchise Mode

Madden NFL 24 implements a suite of new features to make its simulated Franchise Mode feel like the real thing. It addresses the previous installments' problems with trading, which made it too easy to buy out the top players in Madden. When starting a new Franchise Mode run, Madden 24 provides a slider to set the trade difficulty. In essence, this determines how much a manager will have to spend on new players. Good players can be prohibitively expensive on higher difficulties, but the price tags on real-life football contracts demonstrate that it's only realistic. Plus, it gives a team goals to aspire to, which can make Franchise Mode interesting.

Franchise Mode in Madden 23 wasn't too fun when it was possible to add star quarterbacks and league MVPs to the team for little more than pocket change. With a stacked roster, the franchise would quickly be able to dominate on the field and charge ahead in the rankings. That may be the ultimate goal of Franchise Mode, but it's not rewarding when it comes too easily. In Madden NFL 24, whatever difficulty level Franchise Mode is set to, the best trades are hard-won and immensely satisfying. Plus, with more realistic offers from other teams, trades are much fairer in Madden 24.

Moreover, Madden NFL 24 includes improvements to the realism of its league simulation. Madden 23 seemed to nerf players who were rising through the ranks of a particular category too quickly, limiting their accomplishments to increase competition. That may seem fair in theory, but in practice, it can be incredibly frustrating. Imagine spending half a season working up to a big trade for one of the top rushing QBs, only to finally get the desired player and watch their sought-after skill take a massive hit. Madden 24 seems to have removed this obstacle, allowing the cream to rise to the top.

There are still some flaws in Madden NFL 24's Franchise Mode. Low-rated teams will occasionally randomly make the playoffs, and other teams will sometimes propose odd or unbalanced trades. As a whole, though, it's a major improvement over Madden 23 and makes for a more lifelike and enjoyable version of Franchise Mode.

Customization Improvements In Madden 24's Franchise Mode

Since Franchise Mode in Madden 23 was often too easy, Madden NFL 24 adds a variety of difficulty settings for greater customization. Like the trade difficulty slider, these often affect the authenticity of how seasons progress. For example, one of them alters how likely players are to seek out trades to other teams.

Some of the difficulty settings, though, also relate to player development. Madden NFL 24 includes two difficulty sliders to affect how players change over time, with one that determines how their XP gain drops off as they age and another to determine the likelihood and severity of regression. Regression is a mechanic where older players may lose some of their skills as their physical fitness declines, with the potential for some of their stats to actually decrease. This not only creates a more realistic progression of time but also makes maintaining a young and effective team over the years more challenging.

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Madden NFL 24 also adds new cosmetic customization options for players. The game grants equippable gear for certain achievements, which, in years past, could only be used on custom avatars. Now, this gear can also be applied to team members in Franchise Mode.

New Features In Madden 24's Franchise Mode

Madden NFL 24 also adds a handful of new features to Franchise Mode, the most interesting of which is Training Camp. Beginning in the first week of the preseason, managers can send players out to undergo training drills, which will award bonuses to their stats if completed. These drills are enjoyable and surprisingly tough but not required. They can be simulated and skipped for less than the maximum possible gain, but they're worth doing just for fun.

Contract negotiation has also been improved in Madden NFL 24. In Madden 23, contract talks were limited, and could only take place during certain, predetermined weeks in the season. Now, contracts can be restructured at any time.

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Finally, Madden NFL 24 makes team relocation easier. The process of moving a team to a new city could take an entire season in Madden 23, but now, it can be done instantly with the press of a button. There are also new home field advantages for teams playing on their own turf, like boosts to momentum or experience gained.

These are some of the most wide-ranging updates performed on a Madden game in a single year. Franchise Mode was unpopular in the previous version of Madden, but with comprehensive updates to realism, customization, and other features, this year marks a major improvement. Madden NFL 24 couldn't fix all of Madden NFL 23's Franchise Mode bugs, but there's still time to reconfigure things in future updates.

Source: EA Sports Madden NFL/YouTube