Live from the Ultimate Madden Bowl at EA headquarters

Back in 2019, Electronic Arts constructed a fancy broadcast heart to host main esports occasions at its headquarters in Redwood City, California. Then the pandemic occurred, and so it didn’t get a lot use.

But immediately, I used to be in a position to make my first journey to the printed heart with a small group of household and buddies to observe the finals of the Ultimate Madden Bowl, the place two professional Madden NFL gamers competed for a $250,000 ultimate prize.

Dez of Newport Beach received the Madden Bowl, which takes place simply six days earlier than the real-world Super Bowl. I used to be about 20 ft from the 2 gamers, although I used to be sometimes blinded by the roving strobe lights. Since they have been wanting straight at an enormous display screen, I noticed their faces on two huge screens on the perimeters. To my proper have been the “shoutcasters” who served because the commentators.

“This is Henry’s Jordan moment, man,” stated one commentator.

“It’s a historic game here from Redwood City,” stated one other commentator.

The bowl marked the season end for the Madden NFL Championship Series (MCS) competitors, which began with hundreds of gamers competing with one another for the reason that first real-world NFL sport began final fall. While there have been solely 28 individuals within the studio together with the digicam crew, it was the primary return to an in-person ultimate even for the reason that pandemic started.

I assumed there could be a roaring crowd right here. But the tiny crowd made it really feel a bit extra particular as I watched the top-tier gameplay on the digital gridiron for his or her share of a complete season purse of $1 million.

During the season, EA logged an 86% enhance in year-over-year development in registered MCS rivals. EA additionally introduced a multi-year renewal with the NFL, and its model companions included Campbell’s, Dodge RAM, Turner/TBS, and Sony. In an interview, Andrew Echanique, Madden Championship Series Commissioner, stated he was stoked to see the occasion come again reside and in-person.

The finalists have been younger. Henry was a 19-year-old from Austin, Texas, who has had profession winnings of $661,000. It was his fourth Madden Bowl look and he holds 5 championship belts. Henry is the GOAT of the Madden esports occasions, with a aggressive document of 85 and 17.

Dez was very loud, however he’s simply 17. He has one championship belt and earned $157,000 previous to the occasion. He was the youngest-ever Madden Major winner when he received a $75,000 grand prize whereas successful the Madden Ultimate Thanksgiving match. Dez scored the primary landing and let loose an enormous victory shout. Then his Dallas Cowboys intercepted a go from Henry’s Chicago Bears. Then he scored a second time within the first quarter.

After the primary quarter, one commentator stated, “Dez has made Henry very uncomfortable.”

Dez ran up a 17-0 lead by the third quarter, when Henry acquired on the scoreboard with a landing. But Dez got here proper again with one other landing, making it 24-7 by the fourth quarter. Henry shot again with one other landing, making it 24-14.

But Henry couldn’t make up for that first quarter. And Dez received the sport and as horns went off and confetti blew down from the ceiling. And the group? Well, nobody roared. But the shoutcasters acquired busy commentating once more. Dez grabbed the belt and held it over his head.

They offered Dez with a $250,000 verify and blew some gas-powered confetti cannon and it landed throughout me, my glasses and my laptop computer. Hazards of the job.

Madden Bowl

The first Madden Bowl passed off in 1995. The MCS 23 season is constructing on 5 years of Madden NFL esports development, with a four-times broadcast enhance for its common minute viewers year-over-year. EA broadcast the finals on YouTube and Twitch.

The broadcast heart was energetic because the casters acquired up and moved round to do shoots in varied elements of the two,300-square-feet studio referred to as the Players’ Lounge. It has robotic cameras and directional microphones to seize intimate participant interactions throughout occasions.

The studio is supplied with 5 Ikegami HDK-99 broadcast cameras (with Fujinon lenses), together with a jib and an RF Steadicam, in addition to three robos (two within the Players’ Lounge, one in the principle studio), and 10 Marshall POV cameras. The place has 60 video screens and 200 lighting fixtures and an AR inexperienced display screen.

The Ultimate Madden Bowl Presented by PlayStation was the primary reside esports occasion for Madden, in addition to the EA Broadcast Center, since February 2020. This time round, it took months of labor to tug collectively the esports return to in-person occasions, Echanique stated.

“For a lot of us, it was almost second nature going back into things and being onsite again, coordinating production staff and player travel and making sure all the onsite preparations were in a good place for us to be able to put the show on,” he stated.

This time, the crew determined to not do a big in-person occasion, as the main target was extra on offering a fantastic participant atmosphere for the professionals and their visitors.

In the longer term, he stated that “We want to bring the Madden championship series to more players and provide that entertainment value.”

He stated Henry has been good for the sport as he has a following of followers who need him to maneuver towards being the primary Madden participant to win over $1 million.

Meanwhile, he stated, “Dez is the epitome of our couch-to-champion path. This is his first year competing and he broke onto the scene and showed he can play with the best.”

Dez’s victory

“Football has been my life,” Dez stated. “What John Madden has meant to football, it means so much.”

As for what was occurring in his head throughout the second half as Henry began coming again? “Don’t choke,” Dez stated. “Henry is obviously the best player in the game.”

In simply the previous 12 months, Dez grew to become a high 5 earner within the MCS. His mother and father have been there. His mom stated, “I knew you were going to win. We are not going to charge you for the damage you did to the rage wall in your room.”

His father stated, “Enjoy the moment.”

In an interview with GamesBeat, Dez stated, “It’s indescribable. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m in shock. It’s great. This is the biggest goal.”

He stated he has solely been enjoying Madden NFL for about three years and he centered on it as a result of he loves soccer a lot. He has been a part of the esports group for a few years and he loves it. He stated he didn’t know what he was going to do with the winnings. He acknowledged he was shouting quite a bit throughout the match, however he stated, “I’m actually a pretty quiet person. I guess the number one Madden game, it just brings something out. It’s my first time playing in person.”

He stated he would exit and have a good time together with his mother and father.

“I haven’t really played video games before this,” he stated. “I just played it because I like football a lot. I played a lot. And that’s how I really got better.”

As for his technique coming into immediately’s match, he stated, “I wanted to win the game.”