How did John Madden become one of the biggest names in video game history?

The unfortunate passing of John Madden has NFL fans remembering everything about his legacy. That includes a Hall of Fame coaching career with the Oakland Raiders that led right into a legendary broadcast career for all the major American networks.

But there is another part of Madden's legacy that is best known by younger generations; and that is the Madden NFL video game franchise. His name is synonymous with the game and plenty of fans may not even know that it is named after the legendary NFL figure.

So how did Madden become such a big name in the video game world?

John Madden's road to video game superiority

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Madden got big thanks to one key: he got in early. The first Madden game was released in 1988 and was known as John Madden Football. Electronic Arts landed Madden as the game's namesake after failing to get Joe Montana. Madden reportedly saw the game as a good teaching tool and it came into existence without any NFL connection.

Madden was a top broadcaster at the time and his name on a game meant something. But it was still the beginning and EA needed a good debut.

The key to the game's success came in 1990 with the second edition of the game. It was released on Sega Genesis, which shot it into the realm of mainstream popularity.

The game was on Gameboy in 1993 and debuted on the PlayStation console in 1995. The developers also landed an NFL license in 1993, which changed the name of the game to Madden NFL '94.

By this time the game was on computers, game consoles, and handheld consoles. The addition of the NFL contract allowed users to play with their favorite players and teams. With the foundation already in place, the Madden series took off and there was no stopping it.

Of course, so much of the credit goes to those who made the game. Madden provided ideas on the game being used to teach the game of football and those designing it took that idea and ran with it.

It is very possible that a lack of funding or a bad first review could have doomed the game. But they made it past those initial hurdles and kept on improving with each version. Adding the game to new consoles meant more sales as well, which was a smart move as well. Having the game be partnered with a console that failed could have led to it fading away.

The consoles only got better at the turn of the century and that meant Madden became more fun to play. The graphics improved, online play evolved, and the available game modes allowed users to do more than ever.

Seeing a commercial for the latest Madden game was a common occurrence and there were even dedicated shows to Madden tournaments. All this time, John Madden's name was making him money.