The closed Madden 23 beta has finally brought Franchise Mode to the table, and we're learning what EA Sports did to fix things this year.
We've got details on the primary new features in Franchise Mode and how much of the experience in Madden 23 remained the same.
Madden 23 Franchise Mode new features revealed in beta
While the closed beta for Madden 23 has been available for several days, initially players only had access to Play Now and then Ultimate Team.
After plenty of anticipation, Franchise Mode has finally been added in the most recent beta update, and we now know what's different this year.
So far, there are unfortunately no major changes on the table like Madden 22 brought with Staff Management and the revamped Scouting system.
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However, contracts did get a key improvement, as Player Motivations have been introduced to further detail why a player may or may not decide to go to a particular team.
In the past, these negotiations were basically all about money, but now we've spotted a variety of motivations including the following:
- Super Bowl Chase
- Big Market
- Historic Championships
- Top The Depth Chart
- Head Coach Historic Record
- Mentor at Position
- Highest Offer
- Close To Home
- Scheme Fit
- Team Has Franchise QB
- No Income Tax
- Warm Weather State
These are just the few we've noticed in our earliest runs, and each has an Impact meter showing how important that motivation is to the player and how much your own team's details affect their opinion negatively or positively.
If players have key Motivations you can't meet, like location-based preferences, you'll have to offer them even more money in order to entice that player to sign with your team.
This is definitely a clear improvement in an area of the game that needed refinement, and many players may look forward to how this changes the flow of Franchise negotiations.
Scouting, Relocation, and most features remain unchanged
We've covered the good news about Franchise Mode, but unfortunately there's little else of note that got changed.
While gameplay improvements like FieldSENSE will be felt in Franchise Mode games (for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S players only), most aspects of the mode were left without much to celebrate.
The upgraded Scouting system introduced has a light coat of paint with different menu designs, but as far as function goes there are no noticeable difference when compared to what Madden 22 showed us.
Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments for many fans is that Relocation returns completely unchanged with no create a team option available once again in Franchise Mode.
Being able to create your own team is a bare minimum feature available in basically every major sports franchise, but the Madden team remains unwilling to budge on their relocation system.
This means players who wish to use a custom team will once again be forced to spend a year in the relocation process and have to pick from the exact same pre-determined locations, team names, logos, and uniforms that were available in Madden 22.