It's in the Game: Madden NFL

Nostalgic look back at the challenges at bringing a game to market that would dominate the cultural zeitgeist at the cross-section of gaming and sport.

To see where the technology started to where it is now and how the madden brand has exploded is quite a story. Should be incredibly interesting to any football fan who dabbled in video games during the sega/nintendo era - or who is a bit younger and can see the history of the iconic game they are playing today.

Yet, the evolution of the madden brand via technology and the sport should be compelling for anyone who enjoys the growth and maturation of a successful consumer product.

First, it's worth watching and half of it is really good. The other half, however, is pure marketing BS.

I found the history, especially early history, very interesting. Unfortunately, they spent half the roughly 3 hours run time shilling Madden and promoting the series.

NFL2K was a much better series and forced EA Sports to improve their title. This series would have you believe Madden "earned " the NFL exclusive rights on merit when in reality EA purchased them, and is a real world case study on the importance of competition in economics.

Hopefully, the NFL licensing agreement will be lost and consumers can get a good competitive football sim again. For anyone who thinks that NCAA will be the catalyst, watch the story behind Joe Montana football.

Despite a lot of harsh criticism of the documentary I've been seeing, the film presents a lot of interesting perspectives and even those you wouldn't expect to see in a doc of this sort.

It's clear the team behind the project carry the same amount of love and support that fans have for the game and its long history. As someebody who constantly grew up surrounded by this series of games, I found this to be an interesting look behind the curtain that made me appreciate the games even more and want to boot up my old console and toss in the last Madden game I bought.

An overall enjoyable and informative watch that I would recommend to any fan of the game.

This documentary series delves into the history of the iconic Madden NFL franchise, exploring its humble beginnings and its evolution into a cultural phenomenon.

While the series may appeal more to long-time Madden fans, it's still an engaging watch for anyone interested in the history of video games and the NFL. Even if you're not a die-hard Madden fan, you'll still appreciate the series' insights into the cultural impact of the franchise and the evolution of video game technology. It's a behind-the-scenes look at how the sausage was made, and how John Madden was very much a chef in that process.

It's a fascinating look at how technology, culture, and sports have intertwined to create one of the most successful gaming franchises of all time.

I have seen the criticism of this documentary, calling it an advertisement for the game and it makes me wonder if they even watched the full series.

The one thing that the documentary does that I didn't think they would do is criticize themselves. Everything from the failing to release Madden 96 to the death of their competition causing incompetence in the company to harsh looks in the mirror of their current state versus what they once was. I thought it was absolutely on the nose.

The documentary breaking into two parts was an interesting move. The lead up to the release of Madden 25 and the history of Madden made me in ways wish to see more of the history of Madden.

The history parts are by far the best parts of the documentary as you see all the innovations that lead to Madden being a household name. Not only do you get to see what Madden meant to the devs, but also to football culture.

A real treat for anyone who grew up playing Madden.