Players tend to fall into two categories when it comes to games in the Madden series like Madden NFL 21. Either players don't care much about the series at all, or they care very passionately. This is why updates like Madden 21 adding Colin Kaepernick to the game are followed closely, but not as important to fans as gameplay updates.
What many players wanted out of Madden 21 most of all were updates to Franchise Mode, graphics, and player selection. Unfortunately, few of these things were introduced, leading to players criticizing the game heavily. However, it seems like all that criticism did not impact the game as harshly as some would have hoped, if sales numbers have anything to say about it.
Of course, asking for new features is not new for the Madden franchise. In fact, it has become a tradition for Madden players to ask for certain changes and not receive them. This year however, a big part of the Madden NFL 21 controversey centered around glitches and bugs found in the game. The animations and interactions were not polished and led to fans calling for the NFL to drop EA as its sole video game adaptor. None of this seems to have impacted the game's sales however, as it turns out Madden NFL 21 was the best-selling game of August.
On top of leading the PlayStation Store downloads for the month, Madden 21 was the best selling game of August and the 6th best selling game of the year so far. The game has made EA a staggering amount of money, and thanks to the inclusion of microtransactions, will likely make it a ton more. This may leave players who aren't fans of the Madden franchise wondering how it's possible that this game and its series are so popular. The answer is actually pretty simple, if diabolical.
Madden is the only video game franchise that is officially licensed by the NFL. So players who love American football, and want a game that lets them use real football players, can only turn to Madden. This leads to a franchise that doesn't necessarily have to innovate, but still has players who flock to it. And thus Madden 21 is the worst user-rated game on Metacritic and, simultaneously, the best selling game of August.
While EA has stated that Franchise mode is being updated with new features, it's a song and dance players have heard before.
Madden NFL 21 is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with plans for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Stadia releases later this year.