Despite plenty of criticism and negative reviews in the early going from frustrated users and video game pundits, EA Sports saw a highly successful first year of Madden 21 sales.

In a press release, it was revealed that sales for Madden 21 increased by "nearly 20 percent year-over-year" compared to Madden 20 in the first week. Over 17 million games have been played on the brand new "Yard" mode.

Not only that, but within its first week of release, Madden 21 has seen users finish "more than 460,000 seasons of football."

There have been plenty of complaints about the many bugs and glitches in Madden 21, which was released on Aug. 28. In fact, #NFLdropEA was a trending global hashtag on Twitter.

That isn't going to be the case, however. Earlier this offseason, the NFL and EA Sports signed a new Madden deal that runs through the 2025 season. The contract could be extended for another year, depending on if revenue markers are successfully reached.

2019 league MVP Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is the cover athlete for Madden 21. This marks the second straight year in which the reigning league MVP was chosen as the Madden cover; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes graced the cover for Madden 20 after winning the 2018 MVP award.

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Mahomes led Kansas City to a Super Bowl LIV championship last season, and he won MVP honors for the big game. Can Jackson follow Mahomes' path, from league MVP to Madden cover to Super bowl champion? Only time will tell.

Jackson is the second Baltimore Raven to be featured on the cover of Madden. Franchise icon and former linebacker Ray Lewis was on the cover for Madden 2005.

The Madden franchise is named after legendary head coach and former NFL commentator John Madden. The first game in the series, John Madden Football, was released in 1988. Over time, it became one of the most popular video game franchises, having sold more than 130 million copies.

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