The Madden Curse might not be real, but things have gotten off to a rocky start for the recently announced NFL Madden 24 video game. After fans complained that the reveal trailer showcased how little has seemingly changed compared to last year’s iteration, they went on to look closer at the actual cover. Amid the myriad of Buffalo Bills fans and an excited Josh Allen, one mistake potentially showcases a lack of detail that has haunted the series in the past.
Fans Troll Madden Over Cover Mistake
If you take a close look at Allen’s facemask, a clearly terrible Photoshop error seems to have cut off the part of the mask that usually blocks the player’s mouth, leaving a protruding piece of the helmet seemingly present for no reason. Is it a big deal? Probably not. But the mistake might leave fans a tad concerned about EA Sport’s attention to detail.
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Or maybe they were so busy making in-game improvements that this small detail just sort of slipped through the cracks? One can only hope.
Yikes.
Multiple people have been pointing out that Madden’s newly released Madden 24 cover with The Boy Josh Allen has a pretty embarrassing error in it…
NOT GREAT😬 pic.twitter.com/OQZzrqJatQ
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) June 8, 2023
Madden 24 Looking To Right the Ship
Back in February, shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs took home the Super Bowl trophy, it was reported that Madden 24 could result in massive changes at EA Sports if it did not manage to appease the game’s rabid fanbase.
“The discount for players who lost their franchise is only the beginning,” one close to the game’s development said. “EA has big plans for Madden 24, and the management of the game knows how big of a year it is. Not just for the game, but for their future in their positions.”
With that in mind, the company has introduced a number of changes to the game. One of the most talked about is crossplay, which will now allow players from the PlayStation family to play against Xbox and PC users. They will return the Superstar Mode, and they have made significant improvements to the skill-based passing and the “Hit Everything” feature.
Madden producer Mike Mahar told the NFL’s official website:
“We set a new foundation for football gameplay with the introduction of FieldSENSE last year, which was one of the best-selling years in Madden NFL franchise history, and we’re going even deeper in the areas our fans want most in Madden NFL 24.”
Josh Allen the First Buffalo Bills Player on the Cover of Madden
In their quest to make the best Madden game possible, EA Sports enlisted Allen as the cover athlete. This made him the first Buffalo Bill in franchise history to be on the game’s cover.
MORE: History of the Madden Cover — Who Has Earned the Honor?
Allen, who has been the starting QB for the past five seasons, has only gotten better with time. After struggling as a rookie, his second season saw slight improvements. However, it wasn’t until Year 3 that he really took off. He has since completed at least 63% of his passing attempts and thrown for at least 4,200 yards in each of the past three years.
His impressive play has helped guide the Bills to two division titles, but they have continued to falter in the playoffs thanks to juggernauts like the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals.
Regardless, the Bills still have the third-best Super Bowl odds right now and have done nothing but improve in the offseason.
And although Allen was not everyone’s favorite pick to be the Madden cover athlete, he has taken the criticism in stride (although no one has seemingly told him about the Photoshop mistake).
“It’s an opportunity that not many people get to do. If you’re not being hated on by 31 other teams, you’re doing something wrong. As long as your fanbase loves you, that’s all that matters. This is the world we live in, it’s competitive. We don’t like the opposing teams, opposing fans don’t like us, and vice versa. At the end of the day, it’s about respect. If there weren’t 31 teams that didn’t particularly like me, that’d be worrisome.”