It might have just been the biggest bomb ever dropped on all Madden lovers—the pre-release announcement regarding a major change under the QB position for Madden 26. New player traits and mechanics have been teased that will affect player-control of the most important position on the field. Judging from all of the uproar that the announcement has caused online, this might be the most massive gameplay alteration to hit in years.
Officially, the Madden Twitter account released a video covering those changes; more animations and tendencies have made QB’s distinction. This means no more cookie-cutter passers: real-life QB playstyle will now affect everything from how a QB moves in the pocket to how he throws passes. Maybe Patrick Mahomes’ style of improvisation against Tom Brady’s more surgical approach gets realized as gameplay in the future. Or at least we hope it does.
There were a few thoughts from the community, granted: some applauded the effort, mentioning that “you can tell how much they have put into this year’s game,” Tyler Hartling said. But, obviously, there were dissenters, from whom Phatdollazent said, “Madden 19 and 20 and 21 and 22 and 23 had QB blah blah blah…upgrade DB traits and o-line man traits”… Oof! The loop goes.
The onions of drama started peeling further down in the comments. FTP, in impolite fashion, stated issues they witnessed in the current beta: “Behind the LOS moves are way too good…and QBs never fumble. We are in for a helluvah year.” Xae tried to calm everyone’s nerves with, “it’s a beta jus like you said meaning its things they are fs gonna fix,” to which FTP responded in opposition, saying these issues never got fixed from year to year.
And half these turn-ups in the replies started becoming requests to enter the beta. King Savage Entertainment, ITZ E, aka The Man About Tech, rolled into the mentions with, “Can I get a PS5 beta code?” EA inbox must have exploded by now.
The juiciest portion of this innovation emanated from Foster’s interaction with MileHighBronc0, stating that the Switch 2 version runs better than the PS4. Foster said, “They can’t put this game on something that’s worse than a PS4,” while MileHigh countered with an even stronger one, stating the “Switch 2 version is literally running way better.” Console wars never die; they just get a new version.
The actual conversation got derailed by loud public grasping over franchise mode improvements. Spicyoreo15 clamored, “Kinda need that franchise deep dive right now,” and Matthew added, “Can we please see the improvements to franchise already?” Like clockwork: EA flaunts their flashy new gameplay features, only to have hardcore fans immediately looking for the mode that keeps people addicted post-November.
NOLIMITHAWK voiced a very different concern, pleading “add more positions to superstar mode gah dammit man.” Enter some of the usual suspects: msulionsfan called it a “trash game” and called for EA to lose their NFL exclusivity. And some things never change.
Whether these QB changes will finally bring some real freshness into Madden 26 or is just another new coat of paint over the old mechanics is the big question. Apparently, according to the split-rate beta testers, some say it feels revolutionary, and others see the exact same issues in new animations. I guess we’re going to find out when the full game’s out. One thing’s for certain, though: the discussion around Madden is still far from being on its way out.
