The Game Census
Madden NFL 26 cover art

Madden NFL 26

Tiburon · Electronic Arts · 2025-08-14

SteamEpic Games Store

SimulationSports

Franchise: Madden, NFL, NFL Players Association · Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Split screen

Releases: Aug 11, 2025 (Nintendo Switch 2), Aug 11, 2025 (Xbox Series X|S), Aug 14, 2025 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Aug 14, 2025 (PlayStation 5)

EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 26 leverages a new AI-powered machine learning system to convert thousands of plays from nearly a decade of real NFL data into more explosive gameplay.

53%
positive of 5.8k reviews
Mixed
steam rating
81/100
critic score (5 outlets, IGDB)
68/100
IGDB user rating (8 ratings)
93h
time to beat (IGDB)
borked
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$69.99
steam price (US)
Madden NFL 26 is an American football video game developed by EA Orlando and published by EA Sports. Based on the National Football League (NFL), it is the 36th installment of the Madden NFL series, following Madden NFL 25.

Health check

Cooling
  • · 157 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~20/week).
  • · Review velocity down 55% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 11% of 6,674 Simulation games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 117k–262k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,828 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $13.99 at EA Store (2026-03-11)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $69.99 · on sale 15 of 27 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
16216220252026Week of 2025-08-07: 94 positiveWeek of 2025-08-07: 60 negativeWeek of 2025-08-14: 95 positiveWeek of 2025-08-14: 162 negativeWeek of 2025-08-21: 62 positiveWeek of 2025-08-21: 101 negativeWeek of 2025-08-28: 71 positiveWeek of 2025-08-28: 78 negativeWeek of 2025-09-04: 35 positiveWeek of 2025-09-04: 79 negativeWeek of 2025-09-11: 59 positiveWeek of 2025-09-11: 75 negativeWeek of 2025-09-18: 58 positiveWeek of 2025-09-18: 84 negativeWeek of 2025-09-25: 44 positiveWeek of 2025-09-25: 64 negativeWeek of 2025-10-02: 65 positiveWeek of 2025-10-02: 73 negativeWeek of 2025-10-09: 55 positiveWeek of 2025-10-09: 41 negativeWeek of 2025-10-16: 50 positiveWeek of 2025-10-16: 45 negativeWeek of 2025-10-23: 54 positiveWeek of 2025-10-23: 122 negativeWeek of 2025-10-30: 32 positiveWeek of 2025-10-30: 90 negativeWeek of 2025-11-06: 43 positiveWeek of 2025-11-06: 41 negativeWeek of 2025-11-13: 54 positiveWeek of 2025-11-13: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-11-20: 107 positiveWeek of 2025-11-20: 76 negativeWeek of 2025-11-27: 114 positiveWeek of 2025-11-27: 90 negativeWeek of 2025-12-04: 78 positiveWeek of 2025-12-04: 64 negativeWeek of 2025-12-11: 68 positiveWeek of 2025-12-11: 44 negativeWeek of 2025-12-18: 77 positiveWeek of 2025-12-18: 73 negativeWeek of 2025-12-25: 148 positiveWeek of 2025-12-25: 105 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 108 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 114 negativeWeek of 2026-01-08: 83 positiveWeek of 2026-01-08: 49 negativeWeek of 2026-01-15: 79 positiveWeek of 2026-01-15: 48 negativeWeek of 2026-01-22: 79 positiveWeek of 2026-01-22: 55 negativeWeek of 2026-01-29: 103 positiveWeek of 2026-01-29: 90 negativeWeek of 2026-02-05: 109 positiveWeek of 2026-02-05: 74 negativeWeek of 2026-02-12: 93 positiveWeek of 2026-02-12: 57 negativeWeek of 2026-02-19: 61 positiveWeek of 2026-02-19: 32 negativeWeek of 2026-02-26: 47 positiveWeek of 2026-02-26: 24 negativeWeek of 2026-03-05: 45 positiveWeek of 2026-03-05: 22 negativeWeek of 2026-03-12: 71 positiveWeek of 2026-03-12: 46 negativeWeek of 2026-03-19: 74 positiveWeek of 2026-03-19: 47 negativeWeek of 2026-03-26: 38 positiveWeek of 2026-03-26: 36 negativeWeek of 2026-04-02: 34 positiveWeek of 2026-04-02: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-04-09: 27 positiveWeek of 2026-04-09: 21 negativeWeek of 2026-04-16: 22 positiveWeek of 2026-04-16: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-04-23: 34 positiveWeek of 2026-04-23: 56 negativeWeek of 2026-04-30: 34 positiveWeek of 2026-04-30: 46 negativeWeek of 2026-05-07: 37 positiveWeek of 2026-05-07: 30 negativeWeek of 2026-05-14: 18 positiveWeek of 2026-05-14: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-05-21: 27 positiveWeek of 2026-05-21: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-05-28: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-05-28: 22 negativeWeek of 2026-06-04: 22 positiveWeek of 2026-06-04: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-06-11: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-06-11: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-06-18: 17 positiveWeek of 2026-06-18: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-06-25: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-06-25: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-07-02: 13 positiveWeek of 2026-07-02: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-07-09: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-07-09: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-07-16: 16 positiveWeek of 2026-07-16: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-07-23: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-07-23: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-07-30: 7 positiveWeek of 2026-07-30: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-08-06: 11 positiveWeek of 2026-08-06: 15 negativeWeek of 2026-08-13: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-08-13: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-08-20: 1 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$97.98$13.992025-04-242026-06-112025-04-24 — best price $69.992025-08-14 — best price $69.992025-08-28 — best price $97.982025-09-15 — best price $48.992025-09-22 — best price $48.992025-09-24 — best price $48.992025-10-06 — best price $69.992025-10-13 — best price $69.992025-11-20 — best price $34.992025-12-04 — best price $69.992025-12-11 — best price $27.992025-12-18 — best price $27.992026-01-05 — best price $69.992026-01-08 — best price $69.992026-01-27 — best price $20.992026-02-03 — best price $20.992026-02-07 — best price $20.992026-02-10 — best price $42.002026-02-17 — best price $69.992026-02-21 — best price $69.992026-03-11 — best price $13.992026-03-12 — best price $13.992026-03-26 — best price $69.992026-03-30 — best price $13.992026-04-13 — best price $69.992026-04-23 — best price $13.992026-05-07 — best price $69.992026-05-14 — best price $13.992026-05-18 — best price $69.992026-06-11 — best price $69.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

6761402026-05-22 — 153 pageviews2026-05-25 — 164 pageviews2026-05-28 — 201 pageviews2026-05-31 — 335 pageviews2026-06-03 — 676 pageviews2026-06-06 — 266 pageviews2026-06-09 — 233 pageviews2026-06-12 — 227 pageviews2026-06-15 — 183 pageviews2026-06-18 — 180 pageviews2026-06-21 — 200 pageviews2026-06-24 — 203 pageviews2026-06-27 — 140 pageviews2026-06-30 — 195 pageviews2026-07-03 — 172 pageviews2026-07-06 — 220 pageviews2026-07-09 — 218 pageviews2026-07-12 — 189 pageviews2026-07-15 — 180 pageviews2026-07-18 — 216 pageviews2026-07-21 — 226 pageviews2026-07-24 — 204 pageviews2026-07-27 — 263 pageviews2026-07-30 — 228 pageviews2026-08-02 — 315 pageviews2026-08-05 — 241 pageviews2026-08-08 — 290 pageviews2026-08-11 — 303 pageviews2026-08-14 — 285 pageviews2026-08-17 — 217 pageviews2026-08-19 — 216 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

28
achievements tracked
48.8%
earned "Paper or plastic"
10.9%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPOnline PvPShared/Split Screen PvPCo-opOnline Co-opShared/Split Screen Co-opShared/Split ScreenCross-Platform Multiplayer

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
PS5 (PlayStation)10,1250%29

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗Speedruns ↗