Today, Madden is widely recognized as THE dominant name in sports gaming. With 29 series installments so far (The 29th being the upcoming Madden NFL 25 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4), this behemoth in the sports gaming franchise shows no signs of slowing down.
But let’s take a step away from the future of Madden for a moment, and turn towards its past. The first ever Madden game, named after football legend John Madden, was released under the name John Madden Football in way back in 1988. The game saw release across the Apple II computer system, one of the first apple computers.
According to Computer and Videogames, the programmer for John Madden Football, Robin Antonick, signed a contract with EA in 1986 stating that not only was he to receive royalties from the original John Madden Football, but from every subsequent game in the series of a style derivative of his original programming… Which so far, according to a federal judge, is every subsequent title up to 1997. EA didn’t see things that way, and held off on paying Antonick any royalties on subsequent games until the matter was brought up in court.
Antonick has been awarded $11 million in unpaid royalties for all games up to 1997, and further scrutiny is being paid to all games from 1997 to present to see if he is entitled to more.
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