Canadian football—with 12 men to a side, longer and wider fields, and the single point for touchbacks—is feasible within technology available to Madden NFL‘s developers. Back in April, I was told that some developers once built a working CFL game internally, with uniforms and helmets skinned using NCAA Football‘s TeamBuilder tools.
I told this to their Canadian-born boss, Cam Weber, the general manager of EA Sports’ American football division, and asked him if he knew what his employees had done on company time. He was honestly surprised.
“No, I did not know they did that,” Weber said, laughing.
“You know, the funny thing is, right after I joined (in February 2011) I got a lot of those comments, being a Canadian,” said Weber. “You know, ‘Hey, I guess we’ll be making a CFL game.'”
https://lastchance.cc/ea-sports-football-czar-opens-with-a-two-month-drill-5794980%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The tinkering and hint-dropping hasn’t stopped there. Much was made, back in January, of a visual Easter egg in NFL Blitz, another title Weber oversees. The game’s “Zombie” team wears a uniform with a Mutant League Football collar logo. Is this a clue to fans or a nudge to the boss?
“If it isn’t crystal clear already, we are investing heavily in Madden and NCAA Football. Our goal is to make those games world-class, and innovate on a grand scale. Maybe sometime when we’re on the top of the mountain we’ll look at that stuff.”
