EA Sports head admits Madden franchise was not as 'innovative' as other games

The Madden franchise is a regular gold mine for Electronic Arts to exploit. But is it EA Sports' best game? EA Sports head Andrew Wilson admits that the Madden franchise hasn't offered its A game in recent years.

"I do believe that Madden did not have the level of innovation that some of our other franchises have had," Wilson admitted.

"I think they were still doing great things, they were great playing games and they were significantly more than roster updates," Wilson told GI.biz. However, Wilson said that it would take a "fundamental" shift in innovation to make Madden rival the publisher's other games, notably FIFA and NHL.

In an effort to make significant progress in this year's Madden, Wilson says that this year's iteration has "hands down" the largest investment in any single game in the series so far. "The core gameplay team is 50 percent bigger this year than it was last year," he said.

Of course, the problem with annualized sports games is that teams struggle to find something new to put on the box. Every year must be perceived as better than last year's, and it could be that Wilson's claims are simply part of this year's marketing machine. Still, with the Infinity Engine on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, and brand new features for the Wii U version, it's clear that the team hasn't been resting on its laurels.