Madden NFL 27
Franchise Mode had the depth players loved, but it felt like navigating a spreadsheet in a football jersey. My role was to help redesign its core UX so it felt connected, fast, and intuitive, while still keeping the complexity the hardcore audience expects.
Industry
Video Games
Company
EA Sports
Role
UX Designer
Date
March 2025
At a Glance
Problem:
Franchise Mode was a feature-rich sandbox trapped in a maze of menus. Years of bolt-on systems left it fragmented, intimidating, and slow to navigate.
Solution:
Redesigned core navigation into contextual hubs, cutting redundant clicks and connecting scouting, contracts, and staff management into one seamless flow.
Impact:
87% of participants in playtests described the new matchmaking as a “huge improvement.”
Reduced navigation loops → faster task completion
Established the foundation for multi-year Franchise UX updates
“It just feels like everything’s connected now. I can actually stay in the flow instead of hunting for the next screen.”
The Full Story
Franchise Mode Was Due for a Comeback
Franchise mode has always been Madden’s big sandbox for the dreamers. The people who want to be the coach, the GM, the architect of an entire football dynasty. The trouble was, it had been stuck in the same loop for years. Stacked menus. Spreadsheet vibes. Enough dense data tables to make you feel like you’d accidentally opened your banking app instead of a football game.
When I joined Madden NFL 27, the mission wasn’t just to add new features. It was to breathe life back into the mode without alienating the die-hards who knew every inch of it.
A Mode Held Together by Tape and Tradition
Franchise had years of systems bolted on: scouting, player progression, staff management. All scattered across isolated screens. You’d jump from one to another, constantly losing context. It worked, technically, but it wasn’t intuitive or welcoming.
We had to connect these systems, give them a natural flow, and make the experience feel like a cohesive whole. And we had to do it within Madden’s existing engine, with legacy code that sometimes seemed to have its own opinions on how things should work. On top of that, the yearly release cycle meant “time is tight” was almost an understatement.
Starting With What Players Really Think
Through player interviews, competitor analysis, and years of feedback threads, we uncovered the heart of the problem: hardcore Franchise players loved the depth, but casual players felt lost in the noise. The twist was that both groups agreed navigation was a chore.
We didn’t have formal personas for this project, but we knew the priority audience — the competitive, long-term Franchise grinders who live for off-season strategy. Every change still had to work for new players too. Think of it like designing a sports car that also has to handle grocery runs. Speed and style, but without losing practicality.
Workshops, Whiteboards, and Hundreds of Screens
Our small UX/UI team — two UX designers (myself included) and two UI designers — became a think tank. We ran workshops to align on flow, consolidated feedback, and sketched variations until our Figma boards looked like a conspiracy wall.
The biggest shift was rethinking navigation. Instead of scattering related tasks across separate menus, we grouped them into contextual hubs. This meant you could go from negotiating a contract to scouting the next draft pick without getting lost.
We didn’t rebuild the information architecture from scratch. Madden’s foundation was solid, but we rearranged the pieces so the game could guide you instead of making you hunt.
Testing the New Playbook
Each iteration went through a loop:
Wireframes for quick internal feedback
Interactive prototypes for review with design and QA
Refined builds for external playtests
Out of external testers, 85% said the redesign was a major improvement. They noticed faster navigation, cleaner grouping of related features, and far less “wait, where was that again?” The relief was especially clear around the old spreadsheet-heavy screens. Those stayed for depth, but we gave them a presentation that felt less clinical.
Accessibility Without the Red Tape
We didn’t have a formal accessibility pass, but I made sure to bake in small, meaningful changes: pairing categories with icons, ensuring text scaled cleanly, and keeping controls consistent across all Franchise subsystems.
What I’m Proud Of
The navigation overhaul is my favorite part. Once you see it, you can’t imagine going back. We cut redundant clicks, added context to every action, and made the mode feel like one continuous experience rather than a stack of separate apps.
What Worked and What Didn’t
The collaboration model was a big win. Constant conversation between UX, UI, and game design meant the screens weren’t just pretty — they were built for how the systems actually played.
The one thing I’d change? Bring in player telemetry earlier. Knowing exactly where players stalled or backtracked could have sharpened our priorities even more.
The Lessons I’m Taking Forward
Big overhauls need to be future-proof. We didn’t just design for Madden 27, we set the stage for the next few years.
Clear vocabulary between teams avoids feature tug-of-war.
Flow matters as much as features. The easier it is to get where you want to go, the more time players spend enjoying the game.
