EA Sports’ Madden NFL 25 simulation missed the final outcome of today’s Superbowl game, an overwhelming victory by the Seattle Seahawks, by a wide margin.
The IGNITE-driven engine predicted a close 31 – 28 game, with the Denver Broncos beating the Seattle Seahawks, and Peyton Manning as MVP. As we now know, the Seahawks absolutely dominated the Broncos 43 to 8. While many fans felt that the entire Seahawks defensive lineup deserved the MVP trophy, the title eventually fell to Malcolm Smith.
Madden’s prior track record shows that they actually usually do pretty good at predicting the outcomes for the Big Game, so this is more the exception than the rule. However, they certainly can’t argue that the outcome was completely unpredictable, as many analysts had handy explanations for why the Seahawks did so well over the odds-on-favorites. The offense from the Broncos, even Manning, was no match for the Seahawks defense, and they were ranked as the top team at defense throughout the season.
None of this really has any impact on Madden NFL 25 or their future games, of course, but hey, EA Sports invites themselves and their games to scrutiny by making these predictions. There is a part of me that wonders if the switch to IGNITE had any effect to the game’s ability to predict outcomes, but even if it were true, it would stand to logic that EA Sports would improve on it in the coming years.
Madden NFL 25 is available on Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
