The primary criticism, that is repeated frequently, is that each season's latest version is an incremental improvement over the last. Since EA Sports has the exclusive license, it is the sole company that has the ability to create the "simulation-style" NFL game. Thus springs an argument that the developer is under no pressure to meaningfully improve the game each year. In 2020, a viral Twitter campaign called for madden 22 coins the league's decision to introduce EA as its official partner #NFLDropEA. Yet, despite the social media outrage and the coordinated review-bombing on the game's Metacritic pages, Madden 21 sales were at a record high. This year's Madden 22 did well, also, and the series is still the highest-selling sporting franchise of all time.

The critics hail from a vocal minority, but one of the minority groups whose work is to be extremely vocal. I'm talking about YouTubers who make a living making videos by streaming themselves playing a sport that they claim they hate.

The wide range of YouTubers' interests reveals just how large the game is today. There are YouTubers like Belton who upload video of themselves playing and there's a variety of users uploading techniques and tips, and then there are those who are dedicated to dunking on Madden.

In the fall of last year, a channel called SOFTDRINKTV uploaded a 14-minute film titled "The worst Madden of All Time," which was followed by a 19-minute film titled "Madden NFL 22 isn't good - review." They returned to a similar well recently with a video titled "Everything Wrong with Madden NFL 22 (in 16 minutes)." The narration of that one opens memorably but not quite so dramatically: "This is the kind of game that causes you to want to stick an eyeball in your thumb. When you play Madden 22, the gift of life becomes a curse. You'll never want to be alive. It is a source of existential fear."

Just like any other subculture Madden comes with its own terms of speech. Precise throws have the meaning of "lasers" (self-explanatory). Most of the time, a great throw is one that is a "dot" that means you'll be "dotted up" -- and it has mutated from "dart" (less self-explanatory). In the same way, a strong defensive line used to be "bagged," though recently, I've heard YouTubers commenting on being "booked." However, the only one that makes sense to me is "mossing" one person and that's when players leap over corner to catch the ball out of the air, inspired by Randy Moss.

But the resentment of Madden is just as much a part of the culture, even if it's a bit theatrical at times. The subreddit r/Madden has almost all "rants" about the reasons why Madden doesn't work, which is usually simply a video clip of a glitch or bug. The tag #Madden22 on TikTok is an equal part highlights, as well as calling players who have failed to play and that EA ought to fix.

However, in the event that don't like a video game that of much, then why would you play it all year long?

As for Andrew Belton, Madden earns him his money. He's been playing since the 2005 Madden however, and more importantly streaming on YouTub since his 2018 Madden. The channel has been growing to the point that he makes a living doing it, enough that he can move out of his parents' place and into a house in Brooklyn. (He also sells ebooks with Madden tips through his Patreon account, which, he estimates, contributes a third to his earnings.)

The idea of trash-talking didn't start with mut coins madden 22 Belton. While he's certainly the most famous person doing this via YouTube for Madden video games, trash-talk clips are also common in other sports games like NBA 2K. (Another video game Belton hates: "I thought Madden was extremely gruesome but 2K actually makes me... I'm unable to play it, because it angers my.")