EA Sports is working on a new open-world football game, seemingly separate from Madden and College Football.
In a new letter about EA's future, the company outlined what's on the horizon for its different portfolios. For its sports games, the publisher reaffirmed that it is working on a brand new Fight Night game, which will be EA's first boxing game in well over a decade. However, the more interesting announcement is that EA is working on a new open-world football game that it calls "Project Gridiron."
"We have two new projects in development you’ll hear about over the next few months, including a brand-new, social-first open-world experience for our American Football team that we call 'Project Gridiron,'" said EA. "And we are also in pre-production to bring back a beloved, fan-favorite in Fight Night, leveraging capabilities from our simulation fighting team."
It's unclear if Project Gridiron will have some kind of narrative or if its open-world will be a shared online universe, not unlike NBA 2K. Could this be a more mature and gritty football game, similar to what Fight Night Champion did for that series? It's hard to say right now. Madden briefly dabbled with narrative-driven campaigns in the mid to late 2010s with decent results, but eventually turned its focus back toward a broader career mode for those looking for a progressive single-player experience.
While a new College Football is expected to release next year per previous statements from EA Sports, the existence of Project Gridiron creates a question over whether or not Madden will be benched in favor of this new game.
After all, does anyone have the time, money, or interest in three EA-developed football games in a single year? It's also possible this is a total transformation of the Madden experience, but it sounds like something brand new. It sounds like we won't have to wait too long, as EA noted we will learn more about the game in the "next few months." Perhaps we'll hear about this during The Game Awards or sometime in early 2027, but we'll just have to wait and see.
A recent report also noted that there was some internal concern over the future of College Football, as the rising costs for NIL rights, in addition to other licensing and development expenses, are creating friction. The series' sales have reportedly declined year by year, leading some developers to worry the franchise's return may be relatively short-lived. Perhaps Project Gridiron could replace College Football in the future.