Partnership renewal marks the biggest and widest-reaching gaming agreement in NFL history.
Electronic Arts has renewed its multi-year partnership with the NFL and the NFL Players Association – marking the biggest and widest-reaching gaming agreement in NFL history.
Under the partnership, the EA Sports Madden NFL franchise will exclusively create authentic football simulation games, while EA Sports, the NFL and NFLPA will partner to develop games in new genres, expanded esports programmes and additional experiences for fans across more platforms.
Madden NFL 20 is the most successful game in franchise history. Unique players have grown by 30% year-over-year, monthly average players have reached an all-time high, more than 330 million hours of the game have been played, and over one billion minutes watched on Twitch since launch.
In April alone, player levels have nearly doubled from last year, and community and celebrity-athlete competitions broadcast throughout the month led to the equivalent of 2,600 NFL seasons of Madden NFL 20 content watched by viewers around the world.
Madden NFL esports also had its biggest year yet, with broadcasts on ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1 bringing Madden NFL competitive programming to tens of millions of fans.
“Building on the most successful year ever for Madden NFL, this is a powerful time for EA Sports to come together with the NFL and the NFLPA in this new wide-reaching partnership,” said Andrew Wilson, ceo of Electronic Arts. “Together, we have a tremendous opportunity to entertain more players through new Madden NFL experiences, games in new genres and on new platforms, esports and new innovations that will grow fans’ love of the NFL around the world.”
Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, added: “EA has been a trusted partner for more than 30 years and they continue to bring innovation, authenticity and creativity to everything they do and we are certainly a great example of that as evidenced by the huge success of Madden NFL 20.
“The expansion of this partnership is not only about the continued success of the Madden NFL franchise, but also the creation of new avenues for our fans to connect with the sport they love.”
OneTeam Partners negotiated the new deal for the NFLPA as its digital games licensing representative.
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