EA Sports Picks Tom Brady To Appear On Cover Of Upcoming "Madden" Edition

EA Sports has named Patriots QB Tom Brady as the cover athlete for the forthcoming “Madden NFL 18.” This will be the first time teammates have been “Madden” cover choices in consecutive years after Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski had the honor last year. The selection of Brady arrives as EA Sports has created a new limited “G.O.A.T.” (Greatest Of All Time) edition of the video game franchise that will include access to top all-time players and other enhancements for the fast-growing Madden Ultimate Team mode. The “G.O.A.T.” edition of “Madden” will be released Aug. 22, retail for $79.99, and require a pre-order to obtain, while the regular version will arrive on Aug. 25 and sell for the customary $59.99. “We’ve had some deluxe editions of ‘Madden’ in the past, but this is the first time we’ve had a level-up edition like this,” said EA Senior Dir of Global Product Marketing Josh Rabenovets. EA Sports for the second straight year used an entirely internal process for the cover selection after employing a fan vote in various formats from ’10-15. The company began to talk to Brady about being on the cover last fall and finalized the deal shortly after Super Bowl LI. This year’s “Madden” also will be the first to use EA Sports’ new Frostbite game development engine that provides a higher level of visual detail. Gronkowski last year revived talk around the so-called “Madden Curse” afflicting many of the game’s cover athletes after he was placed on injury reserve in early December and missed the entire postseason.

NOTES: * = Technically called "Madden NFL 25" for game's 25 anniversary.