The late John Madden will be featured on the cover of Electronic Arts’ Orlando-made game Madden NFL 23.
This year’s game will be released on Aug. 19 and the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions will feature a new “ultra-realistic” gameplay system called “FieldSENSE,” a news release said.
Madden, a Hall of Fame NFL coach and broadcaster, died last year.
“Coach Madden lived and breathed football and his commitment to authenticity is at the heart of EA SPORTS,” said Aaron McHardy, executive producer of Madden NFL Gameplay, in the release. “Coach Madden had a vision for the most realistic 11v11 football simulation possible and with FieldSENSE the game is more authentic this year and beyond.”
Last year’s cover athletes were Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
The Madden NFL games have been worked on in Central Florida since 1996. Electronic Arts new downtown Orlando office, which welcomed employees at 50% capacity in March, also features Madden in a mural painted by Orlando artist Andrew Spear inside the 175,940-square-foot building.
Employees were mostly able to decide how much they wanted to return to working in person.
The downtown studio opened two years after employees left their Maitland office to work from home because of the pandemic.
As of Dec. 31, 862 full-time employees were based out of downtown, with an average salary of $135,000, according to a report filed with the city of Orlando.
California-based EA could get as much as $9 million in tax breaks for moving its Maitland office to downtown Orlando.
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