EA Sports tonight will upload the first-round selections from the NFL Draft into the Madden Ultimate Team mode of its "Madden NFL 25" video game within minutes of their real-life selection. EA Sports previously has incorporated new NFL Draft picks into the prior year's version of "Madden" through the Ultimate Team mode, which combines basic gameplay with virtual card collecting, but never before in a near-realtime setting such as this.
EA GM of American Football Games Cam Weber said, "This is another step as we've evolved 'Madden' and our other games from much less of a locked, packaged-good product into more of an annual service that's supported all year." Ratings in the game for the newly drafted players have been created based on their college careers and performance earlier this year at the NFL Combine, and may be further tweaked tonight based on specific team assignments. EA’s Ultimate Team services generated more than $380M revenue in the company's FY '14, according to an earnings release earlier this week, with Madden Ultimate Team revenue in particular increasing 90% from the prior year.
