Madden 23 Franchise Mode: Free Agency, Player Tags & Motiviations headline new features


Madden 23 Franchise Mode is under a lot of pressure this year but aside from the bugs at launch, it's started off pretty well.

We're going to take a look at this recent bug and whether or not EA will address it.

Here's everything we know so far about Madden 23 Franchise Mode and what fans can expect when it arrives.

Latest - August Update

We're essentially through the first month of the game and now we've received our Madden 23 update 1.02, the first of the year.

Within it was several fixes, however, one specific game mode was left out, Franchise Mode, leaving many players bewildered at the moment.

Released on August 29, 2022, check out the Madden 23 Update 1.02 patch notes here.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode gets major new features

After plenty of anticipation about "The Drama of NFL Free Agency" being teased by EA, the veil has been lifted on Madden 23 Franchise Mode.

With the first major deep dive ahead of launch, EA outlined exactly what fans can expect to see in this year's upgraded Franchise Mode.

PRE ORDER NOW: Secure your copy of Madden 23 before it arrives

You can watch the full deep dive above, but Free Agency is definitely the highlight from everything we've seen.

While the system was much simpler in the offseason in previous years, they've created an all-new hub to house Free Agency with several stages in that process.

Contracts and logic all got some reworking, and Player Motivations take a major spotlight when it comes to signing people through the season or during Free Agency.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode
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FRANCHISE UPDATES: Madden 23 Franchise Mode is getting an overhaul

In addition to Motivations like wanting to be with a team that can win the Super Bowl or wanting to be closer to home, Player Tags will also be a big improvement.

These additions include tags like Award Winner, Franchise QB, or Mentor and will impact both that player and the team as a whole.

We've got more details here breaking down all the new features coming to Madden 23 Franchise Mode.

Madden 23 looks to refine last year's Franchise Mode updates

On top of the pure new features, it looks like some work has been put into some of the most recent additions to the Madden franchise.

Madden 22 marked a few major milestones with a new Scouting system and the return of Staff Management to Franchise Mode.

This year, Madden 23 looks to further refine both of those features as well as last year's new Weekly Strategy mechanic.

As always, another year means more tweaks to Trade Logic AI, but we'll have to wait and see if EA Sports finally figured out the balance there.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode
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ANOTHER STEP: Last year's scouting upgrade revamped the NFL Draft experience too

While the new features will certainly garner plenty of deserving attention between now and launch, and we'll get many more details, the biggest thing Franchise needs is less exciting.

Stability has got to be one of the most crucial pieces of the puzzle this year, as ongoing Franchise bugs continued to plague players long after Madden 22 was released.

Scouting faced plenty of hiccups at reveal as well, but the post-launch updates just didn't do enough to remedy those issues.

Hopefully, Madden 23 Franchise Mode can bring some consistency to the table this year to reassure frustrated players.

Free Agency Bug

According to one new post on the r/Madden subreddit, CPU teams seem incapable of keeping their top players signed.

We noticed it while playing Madden 23 Franchise Mode as well. Top players such as Nick Bosa, Justin Jefferson, Trevon Diggs hit the free agency market after the second year.

Madden 23 Franchise Mode
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FRANCHISE MODE: Franchise Mode is off to a rough start in M23

Usually there's a Day 1 update that fixes a lot of these issues but it was confirmed on Twitter that there won't be one this year aside from a roster update.

To check out the rest of the bug issues and what EA had to say, head here.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Madden page.