15 years ago, Madden 10's Ultimate Team changed the game forever

Madden NFL 10, which was released Aug. 14, 2009, gave us a lot of firsts but will forever be remembered as the debut of Madden Ultimate Team, perhaps the most controversial mode in franchise history. Things started innocently enough.

Madden 10 was the first title in the series to feature two cover athletes. After a compelling Super Bowl that saw the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals, safety Troy Polamalu and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald earned cover honors. Madden 10 debuted the Fight for the Fumble mini-game, so much of its marketing was about the individual fights between offensive and defensive players.

In an all too familiar tale for Madden cover stars, Polamalu got injured early in the year and would only play five games. The injury gave more ammunition to those who believe the Madden cover athlete is doomed to suffer some catastrophic injury. Also, only a handful of teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls, so maybe the odds were always against him and his squad. Larry Fitzgerald suffered no curse effects, as he had another big year and led the Cardinals to a division title.

The Fight for the Fumble mini-game was meant to simulate those pileups on the field in which the ball may change hands multiple times before someone keeps hold of it. It was an excellent idea in theory, but in practice was inconsistent and button mashy. Many players reported doing absolutely nothing and still ending up with the ball. It appeared again in Madden 11 but hasn't been seen since.

Madden needs to do something about fumble recoveries, but seems to have given up. Even as late as Madden 24, there is little rhyme or reason to who recovers a fumble. Gamers were largely in agreement that Fight For the Fumble wasn't it, but hopefully EA figures out something more intuitive and interactive.

In the 2008 season, the Miami Dolphins took the league by storm with their innovative Wildcat offense, which snaps the ball to some player other than the quarterback. That kind of offense is a delight for video game designers, who have to simulate a sport that often changes little from one year to the next.

Madden 10 was the first game in the series to feature the wildcat, and it has been a staple ever since. Every year there is at least one or two playbooks that can do some glitchy things out of this offense. EA Sports College Football 25 features it as well, and some of its plays were so powerful a nerf was required.

But of course, Madden 10's lasting legacy was the debut of Madden Ultimate Team. As a nerd of the highest order, I thought it was an actual card game based on NFL football and was incredibly excited. When I learned I would be collecting cards to unlock players in the same style of Madden game, I was crestfallen. That said, I'm still playing and creating content for it 15 years later, which speaks to its addictiveness.

Critics of the mode say EA's continued focus on it has caused other modes to stagnate. But it continues to drive huge profits and keeps players engaged for much of the year in all EA's games. At this point, EA would remove punting or gang tackles before taking it out.

Madden 10, is in many ways, a capsule of the franchise's biggest issues. Few of the innovations touted on the back of the game's box made it to the three-year mark. But its monetization efforts were incredibly successful.