Madden 23 Franchise Mode plagued by Free Agency bug, no Day One Patch coming

Madden 23 Franchise Mode aimed to deliver some major improvements this year, but so far it seems they've hit an equally major snag.

We've got details on a Free Agency bug affecting Madden 23 Franchise Mode and less than ideal news about a Day One Patch.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode plagued by Free Agency bug

While we're just a few days into the Early Access launch of Madden 23, players are already facing a significant issue in Franchise Mode.

Among the most exciting additions this year is the revamped Free Agency hub with new player tag and player motivation systems.

Unfortunately, it looks like something in that system has failed spectacularly as users are reporting massive problems with the CPU controlled teams.

According to one new post on the r/Madden subreddit, CPU teams seem incapable of keeping their top players signed.

The post has already garnered 33 comments with several other players reporting the issue which becomes particularly noticeable a few season in.

Free Agency began filling up with top players like Nick Bosa, Justin Jefferson, Trevon Diggs, and "upwards of two dozen" players rated 85 OVR or higher just in the second year of Free Agency.

The issue has since been posted to the EA Answers forum to open a new bug report ticket, but EA has yet to comment on the situation directly.

Madden 23 Day One Patch Update apparently not coming

For most games, it's understandable for a few issues to pop up between the title being finalized and actually being released.

Normally, these are remedied with a Day One Patch Update on the official release date, which for Madden 23 would mean one could arrive on Friday, August 19, 2022.

Unfortunately, any hopes of a quick fix for this Madden 23 Franchise Mode bug or other issues has been squashed by EA.

In the tweet above from Madden Producer Clint Oldenburg, he confirms that a Day One Patch for Madden 23 is not expected on August 19.

However, the good news is that Oldenburg had other tweets responding to various bug reports and seeking extra information, so they are looking into these issues.

It's unclear how long it'll take for things to be remedied, but EA was fairly consistent last year in delivering a patch update almost every month.

With that in mind, an early September Title Update for Madden 23 still feels very possible, and hopefully this Franchise issue is among the patch notes.