The Madden American football series has sold 250 million games in more than 30 years.

Legendary NFL player and coach John Earl Madden passed away unexpectedly at his home on Tuesday at the age of 85, the NFL announced. John Madden’s influence and legacy extended beyond the football field, as he was a consultant and key player in creating the Madden NFL video game franchise, which has sold more than 250 million games in its 33-year existence.

The idea of creating a realistic American football game came from the mind of Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, who approached John Madden in the mid-1980s for advice and support for the project, which was initially intended to recreate American football in 7 vs 7 player mode but was eventually expanded to 11 vs 11 at the coach’s express request. The coach did not consider a shortened version of the sport to be real football.

“We always wanted it to look like what you see on TV. That was one of my goals” – John Madden

“The desire for authenticity turned a one-year project into a four-year project,” Hawkins explained as part of Netflix’s High Scores documentary series. “I remember when we first started developing the game, we always wanted it to look like what you see on TV. That was one of my goals,” said the legendary coach. And the technical responsibility for the project fell to American developer Joe Ybar. The first Madden game debuted in 1988 on the Apple II computer, but it wasn’t until 1990 that it finally began to look even remotely realistic with the SEGA Genesis version.

“Everyone was happy and breathed a sigh of relief when [the game] was finished and could finally debut. The fact that it was a success surprised some people, but Trip [Hawkins] wasn’t surprised,” said Don Traeger, co-founder of Electronic Arts, in an interview.

The series has had its ups and downs and several competitors, most notably NFL 2K for Dreamcast, which at one point challenged Madden’s dominance, not only in terms of sales but also in quality. Now, however, the series owns exclusive rights to the NFL, allowing it to be the only simulation series until at least 2025.

The Madden NFL series has become a cultural phenomenon in the United States. Year after year, it is the best-selling game in August and attracts a great deal of attention, both for its new gameplay and the athlete chosen for the cover. In fact, there is an urban legend that this cover role is cursed: it significantly degrades the performance of the selected player for the following season.

Source: NFL.com