Madden was great. It wasn’t Tecmo Super Bowl but it was still great. And then Madden 99 came around.
Madden 99 was the first one with franchise mode.
This was just too much. Madden’s franchise mode, which paved the way for similar additions to all of the major sports video game titles, ruined sports video games.
Franchise mode turned Madden into a part-time job. Drafting, scouting, negotiating contracts, setting the price of foam fingers at the stadium, training camp.
Franchise mode has marginalized the dude who just likes the playing the game and maybe wants to do a season with his favorite team.