Skip to main content

EA Sports rumored to cut Ray Rice from Madden ’15

ea sports rumored cutting ray rice madden 15
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Fox Sports football commentator Mike Garafolo tweeted that EA Sports will be removing disgraced Ravens running back Ray Rice entirely from Madden 15 in a week one update, via an unnamed source:

Source tells @FOXSports1 that @EASPORTS will remove Ray Rice from Madden ’15 as part of Wk 1 update. Won’t be on Ravens or free agent lists.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 9, 2014

Rice was recently cut from the Ravens lineup and suspended from the NFL indefinitely over a domestic abuse scandal. A leaked video showed Rice punching out his then-fiancée (now wife) in an Atlantic City elevator before dragging her unconscious body out into the hallway.

We have reached out to EA Sports for confirmation of the rumor, and will update this story when the publisher responds with concrete information.

Editors' Recommendations

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
Madden 23: tips and tricks to dominate on the field
Josh Allen throwing a pass in Madden 23.

To honor the late, great John Madden, EA dedicated 2022’s edition of the perennial NFL video game franchise to -- perhaps -- the most important man to ever step onto the football field. Madden NFL 23 also makes several quality-of-life improvements to help turn the meandering series in the right direction.

Players have more visual cues in the passing game, giving them more control over their quarterback, and the defensive AI doesn’t get cooked on every crossing route -- though these boosts don’t mean anybody can pick up and play the game. With a few helpful Madden 23 tips and tricks, new players can get a better grip of how to succeed between the hash marks while returning players shake off the rust.

Read more
How to pre-order Madden NFL 23: retailers, editions, and bonuses
This mid-air hit is an example of one of Madden NFL 23's new disruptive FieldSense animations.

Down, set ... hike! It's a yearly tradition for the biggest, best Madden title to drop in near the end of summer and this year is no exception. Madden NFL 23 has fans of both games and the physical sport joining together in shared excitement for this latest installment in the quintessential football simulation game. Madden NFL 23 will let you carve your own rise into the ranks of the best players of all time, go behind the scenes in the Franchise mode to scout players, facilitate trades, manage your staff, or even build an unstoppable dream team in Madden Ultimate Team.

Madden games have come a long way since the early entries on the early consoles. Madden NFL 23 is a full-on service game, with its own currency and progression to keep the game fresh and relevant all season long. While you could just grab the game after release, hardcore fans of the game who know they will be investing more than the initial asking price should check out what extras there are available for pre-ordering, as well as if the extra content included in the different editions speaks to you. Here's everything you need to know about how to pre-order Madden NFL 23.

Read more
Madden NFL 23’s development was somber and self-aware
This mid-air hit is an example of one of Madden NFL 23's new disruptive FieldSense animations.

While EA's Madden football games often top sales charts every year, those sales haven't reflected quality. The critical consensus on the series has been on the decline in recent years, and Madden NFL 22 was riddled with bugs that hampered the experience. Thankfully, the developers are aware of Madden's flaws and trying to improve its signature gameplay with Madden NFL 23.
Madden 23 Official Reveal Trailer
Speaking to Digital Trends, Executive Producer of Gameplay Aaron McHardy painted a picture of a more somber and reflective development of Madden NFL 23 as EA Tiburon mourned rthe passing of series namesake John Madden and tried to make up for the franchise's past failures. While Digital Trends hasn't gone hands-on with the game yet, McHardy highlights that Madden NFL 23 will address many issues fans have thanks to a plethora of bug fixes and a new suite of features called FieldSENSE that touches every part of the experience.
"The investment in FieldSENSE, bug fixes, and gameplay was so big because we know FieldSENSE hits whether you're playing Franchise, Ultimate Team, The Yard, or a quick match with a friend on your couch," McHardy tells Digital Trends. "It's exciting because it hits every part of the game, every mode you're playing. We feel like anyone who plays Madden NFL 23 can really feel something new and different in the game this year."
Check out our Summer Gaming Marathon hub
Exterminating bugs
Before the team could make Madden NFL 23's gameplay better, they had to fix what was broken already. The past few Madden titles have all been riddled with bugs, and the situation got worse than ever with Madden NFL 22. The annual release schedule and pandemic had finally caught up to EA Tiburon's game quality. McHardy outlined the steps the developers are taking to ensure it (hopefully) doesn't happen again.
"We looked at how we developed the game and scoured the internet, and actually got our QA department to, within our dev tools, log every complaint that we could find to track them," McHardy explains. "Where possible, we'd go in and analyze that to figure out what the actual issue was that was causing someone to complain. If there was a video, we put it in our database, and if it was a general complaint about an area of our game, we'd gather them all together and figure out what all the issues are."
"We are hyperfocused on making the most polished game that we can."

This process was thorough, as the developers ended up with a list of "hundreds" of bugs and issues that EA Tiburon could improve. The team then fixed some issues as part of Madden NFL 22's live-service updates and took anything they couldn't fix into account when planning Madden NFL 23's development.
"In the way that we plan new features every year, we were also planning fixes for all of those bugs to make sure that we fixed them and also have time left to catch new ones we are creating," he said. "Polish was a big thing for us on the team this year, so while there are still some bugs because we aren't finished, we feel like the game is already in a better position this year than it was at this time last year. We are hyperfocused on making the most polished game that we can."
We won't know for sure whether or not this will all really pan out until the game is in our hands this August, but it seems like EA knows where it messed up and wants to do better.
Sensible changes

Read more