The Madden NFL game series has a particularly dedicated fanbase. NFL fans, after all, don't have any other option when it comes to football games. That's why Madden NFL 22 is still performing exceptionally despite launching mid-August, as the NFL season moves into its ninth week. Yet it's exactly that investment from Madden fans that's being punished by a particularly disastrous glitch. Two and a half months after Madden NFL 22's launch, it's still possible that players could lose their entire franchise.
Madden NFL 22 players have been dealing with an egregious bug since the game's launch. Exactly what the cause of the problem is remains unknown. However, the result is very clear. Players will try to access their football team franchise in Franchise mode and it won't open. No matter what they do, whether it's reinstalling Madden NFL 22 or using a second (or third) save, it won't work. The save files for their Franchise mode teams will be corrupted and unusable.
What makes this error so especially unacceptable is that Franchise mode in Madden is supposed to be where players go to have long, uninterrupted football experience. Franchises can have multiple seasons across years, only for their saves to be corrupted without warning. They'll lose all of their progress and have no other option but to start over.
Electronic Arts has acknowledged that there's an issue. There is an apparent fix in the works, though there isn't currently a timetable for when the fix will be issued. EA community manager Blueberry posted a response on EA's official bug reporting forum saying the development team is working on it. Given that there are some reports that this bug goes back to at least Madden NFL 21, it's frustrating that it's taken so long for the bug to be addressed. At the very least, it seems like EA is paying attention. There's no word on whether players will get their saves back or if they'll have to start all over again.
There's, unfortunately, no known way to prevent the Madden NFL 22 Franchise bug from happening, because no one knows exactly what the cause is. It has happened across multiple platforms, with reports on EA's official forums from users on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Madden NFL 22 players should simply be aware that their saves may get corrupted on Franchise mode. It's rare, but still possible.
EA Blueberry says that the development team for Madden NFL 22 is planning to deliver a Title Update for the game in November. A fix for this issue isn't confirmed for this update, but it's a possibility. Expect news on November's update in the weeks to come.
Madden NFL 22 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.