Madden 22 Franchise remains a central priority for most fans, and in some ways the game mode did take a lot of steps forward this year.
However, promised Madden 22 Franchise updates are still on the table, and we're looking closer at what could arrive and when EA might finally deliver.
EA reaffirmed Madden 22 Franchise updates after rumors of cancellation
Going into the launch of Madden 22, there were promises by EA that they would treat "Franchise as a Live Service" with continued support and updates throughout the game's post-launch lifespan.
At this point, Madden 22 has been playable for more than four months, and only one of those potential Madden 22 Franchise updates has arrived.
Scouting arrived to much fanfare, despite being delayed and arriving a good bit later than EA had promised even at launch, and it was a definite improvement.
In late November, an SGO report emerged stating that the other planned Madden 22 Franchise updates had been cancelled.
Days later, EA responded and reaffirmed their commitment to "two upcoming Franchise updates that we'll deliver in Madden 22" and stated they would "have more details on the updates in the new year."
Further response by SGO stood by their initial reports, and speculated that the updates themselves had been cancelled only to be put back on the agenda when backlash hit for SGO's initial report.
While the question of whether they were actually cancelled will come down to whether you choose to believe EA or SGO in this instance, we did get new information on what those updates might actually be.
Scouting Talent Tree and scenario engine update planned
In their follow-up report, SGO stated that the two main features on the table for Madden 22 Franchise updates were a "Scouting Talent Tree" and a "large update to the scenario engine."
The latter would be very welcomed, depending on the quality of it, as the seemingly improved scenario engine this year has felt fairly lackluster.
The potential addition of a Scouting Talent Tree is the most promising news though, as Scouting has been the primary ray of hope in Madden 22 Franchise.
Adding a new talent tree specific to scouts, or to your general team scouting, could add depth and strategy to the feature in a major way that it's currently missing.
Unfortunately, the biggest question mark that remains is when these might arrive.
When will the next Madden 22 Franchise updates be released?
Regardless of what they end up being or whether you believe they were temporarily cancelled, we know that Madden 22 Franchise updates are coming.
EA explicitly stated two more are on the way in their last statement to IGN, and a failure to deliver those could cripple interest in Madden 23 before it can even begin to build.
At this point, the Scouting Talent Tree seems like the most likely next arrival, as it adds on to the existing Scouting rework in a way that utilizes the talent tree mechanics already in place.
That would likely leave the scenario engine update last, and the most likely arrival date for that would be late February to early March when we expect Madden 22 to hit Xbox Game Pass.