If you're an NFL fan, you may be aware of the Maximum Football series of games that have been released on Xbox over the past few years, and now we're getting a brand-new one - this time built using Unreal Engine 5, and launching as a free-to-play title on PC this spring and consoles later this year.
The new Maximum Football is said to "offer a premium football experience to fans far and wide at no cost", featuring a Dynasty Mode, endless levels of customisation, local and online multiplayer, and much more.
All we know about a release date is that the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions are targeted to launch in fall 2023, with the early access portion becoming available on Steam for PC at some point this spring.
Although Maximum Football will naturally serve a competitor to Madden on Xbox when it arrives in 2023, the CEO of Maximum Entertainment has admitted the intention is to be "a Madden poker, not a Madden killer". Here's what the CEO, Christina Seelye, had to say in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz:
"We are a Madden poker, not a Madden killer. We came up with some ways we could compete in a gameplay way."
"When you look at Madden, there's nothing else besides very arcadey mobile options. I see it's a gigantic market and they're making a kagillion dollars. There are people who want more customisation opportunities and more control over how they are playing. Let's give the people what they want and go play in that space. If we did 2% of Madden, it would double the size of the company. It's being smart about that, always being self-aware and saying we aren't trying to launch a billion dollar football franchise."