Madden 21 Game Data Shows High User Engagement and Tom Brady Effect
The new Madden 21 game has been officially out for at least a week and according to EA’s numbers, user engagement has looked good early on. They recently unveiled information indicating that more gamers were playing games in this year’s version as compared to last year’s Madden 20. In addition, we have a look at the most popular teams including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, driven by the “Brady Effect.”
EA reports Madden 21 popularity for players, usage
EA Sports revealed an infographic based on player data from their Madden 21 game on Thursday (Sept. 3). It includes which players and teams were the most popular, as well as indicators that overall usage is much higher than last year. In fact, the infographic (below) says that Madden 21 user engagement over seven days is up 49 percent compared to Madden 20.
The other telling stat from the infographic relates to what they’re calling the “Brady Effect.” Basically, more players are using the Tampa Bay Buccaneers than ever. In fact, it’s up 873 percent compared to usage in Madden 20. In addition, the Bucs are amongst the top five most popular teams, ranking fifth.
Ahead of the Bucs are the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Baltimore Ravens. All of these were popular squads in last year’s game, but the addition of six-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady to Tampa Bay has them surging in usage.
Brady is also No. 4 amongst the top quarterbacks in Madden 21 based on total passing touchdowns. Ahead of him are Russell Wilson, Madden 21 cover star Lamar Jackson, and Madden 20 cover star Patrick Mahomes.
The popularity of the game in terms of high user engagement may be due to the pandemic circumstances which have affected many activities and events. As of right now, the new game has a historically-low user score online at review sites like Metacritic. However, a huge Madden 21 title update is expected this month.
Top teams revealed based on win percentage
Overall, players have completed 460,000 seasons worth of football in the new Madden 21 game, so far. That’s a lot of games ahead of the start of the actual NFL season. In addition to showing us popular players and teams, we see which squads led each division based on win percentage.
We see that the Green Bay Packers took the NFC North, the Philadelphia Eagles won NFC East, and the Arizona Cardinals won NFC West. Tampa Bay claimed the NFC South. In the AFC, it was the Bengals (AFC North), Jaguars (South), Bills (East), and Chargers (West).
Of those teams, it seems that the Packers, Eagles, Buccaneers, and Bills probably hold the best chances to claim division titles. The Cardinals hold +900 odds to win the NFC West, the worst of all teams in the division. The Jacksonville Jaguars are +2000 favorites and the Bengals are +2600 on the NFL future odds to win their respective divisions, both of which are dead last.
Still, the excitement of young quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray has fans high on these teams heading into 2020. The NFL season begins on Thursday, Sept. 10 with the Houston Texans battling the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
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