Madden, like other videogames, is now a bonding experience for families. Parents who have grown-up on Madden play with, and in some instances teach, their children football through the popular game. For example in a 2008 interview I conducted with WhatTheyPlay.com co-founder and UK native John Davison, he mentioned Madden being the tool by which he learned the game of American football. As he says his father bonded with him through video games in his childhood, video games is one of the ways he spends time with his sons. Alongside Mario Kart on the list of games played together: Madden NFL 08’s Family Play mode.

Ironically as critics of John Madden as broadcaster would blast him for being too simple, over time critics of Madden NFL have often complained it has become to complex for casual fans to pick up and play. The declining sales since the peak for Madden NFL 07 could be partially explained by that criticism.

With sports sims being the norm over arcade games now, coaching staffs at college programs like the Louisiana State Tigers have enlisted game developers to custom-make video games as tools help their athletes learn the game. Certainly, Madden wasn’t the first football game on the market; 4th & Inches was released the year prior to John Madden Football. Certainly, a popular sim would have come along eventually. But as the Madden series has pulled from others over its two-decade history, others have learned from it as it well. That give and take of ideas and innovations is the seed of growth in any industry. For better or for worse, Madden NFL has been the long-standing series that’s helped define what a football sim is today.

So while John Madden may retire, the Madden franchise will live on, Peter Moore wrote in his blog April 16. Madden will continue to be a cultural event whether it be through heavily marketed events (i.e. Maddenoliday) or the gathering of NFL players for rating announcements to before the yearly griping about how their speed rating wasn’t high enough. While John Madden takes well-earned time to spend with his family, I’ll anxiously look ahead to see what’s in store for the family of gamers and sports fans built around his influence.