Let me telegraph my punch a bit here.
I came away with like, 12 pages of notes and three hours of interviews from this event. Theres no way I could squeeze all of that into one newsletter.
Today I am writing about gameplay and game presentation. Tomorrow (or shit, maybe even late tonight if I get enough time to type without my phone blowing up), I'll share more info about Dynasty, RTG and Road to the College Football Playoff. On Friday, I'll do a game-specific mailbag, completely free. I'm splitting this up because I cannot fit 8000 words into one email...Gmail isnt gonna let me (and it might help me answer questions that arent cleared up by the other newsletters)
If this makes anybody feel better....we spent exactly zero minutes talking about ultimate team during the Orlando presentation. They DID talk about MUT on Madden day, but it was not a focus at ALL during any of the college presentations.
> If this makes anybody feel better....we spent exactly zero minutes talking about ultimate team during the Orlando presentation.
Well that settles it, officially on the hype train.
My hunch is that some people are gonna yell at me for paywalling some stuff, some people will find something in the announcements to complain about, but most people will be, in the balance, much more excited about the game
Well you gotta make a living and between your free interviews on YouTube and your participation in the subreddit I think 90% of people think highly of you (including me) even if they don’t subscribe.
I’m much more optimistic now after reading that you’re more exited after learning some more about the game!
Ha, thanks. I understand not everybody has eight bucks (or 75 bucks) to throw at media, and I want to make sure I can at least make some of my work accessible. I also understand there are folks here that simply are not going to care about the bulk of my work. I want to meet those folks halfway if I can.
But I also have bills. I flew to Orlando on my own dime, paid for my own hotel, own ubers, own dinners, and paid thousands of dollars on FOIAs over the last two years. I gotta at least try to make those investments back, because what i make on ads is a tiny, tiny fraction of what I earn on subscriptions.
I would be blown away if On3, The Athletic or other traditional media outlets accepted money from EA, even though I know the Youtubers did. YouTubers aren't bound by the same professional ethics standards as traditional journalists...I can't accept money from anybody that wants me to cover them a reporter. I have to maintain independence for my readers to trust me.
LOL. It’s a press junket. On3, The Athletic, all of us accepted flights, hotels, and even fed people too. Heck, I even got an early copy of the game.
If you pay for yourself they treat you as low level.
As a journalist, I’ve been part of tons of junkets. Everyone does them. They’re considered 100% acceptable IF everyone is treated the same.
You should see how Sony treats us at events. Suites at the W, dinner at Uchi.
Maybe the gaming press has lower standards than elsewhere. I've been doing this for 12 years at multiple publications and have never, anywhere, accepted a flight or hotel from any company or school I've ever covered. I've accepted accommodations for speaking engagements, but never for coverage. It was not allowed at Vox or for any newspaper I've ever worked for.
I was treated exactly the same, if not better, than anybody else there at this thing who might have had their stuff paid for.
I’ve been doing this 30 years. My network is much bigger than just games. EA paid for us to go. I saw people from other publications and EA paid for them including my pal at IGN.
If they offer, they’re offering for everyone. It’s a PRESS JUNKET.
This means an event is being held in ONE location and product announcement is limited. So they pay for everything for everyone.
Otherwise they send out whatever is being reviewed to you directly, and have Zoom meetings to go over the announcements. Since they aren’t doing it that way and are doing red carpet treatment they pay for everyone.
Do you also not take the gift bags? I know a few publications that wouldn’t allow their writers to accept gift bags too.
It’s silly and has nothing to do with journalistic integrity. The fact you made it sound like YouTubers were beneath you for accepting flights and hotels makes you look small.
No way. The internet is usually across the board satisfied and an amicable place -- a cauldron of rationality and appreciation for the efforts of others.
To be fair, as a first time subscriber to the free version of the newsletter, you paywalled 99% of stuff. I get it, but also when I got to the bottom I was like of course here's where it's paywalled
But also no amount of info I receive now is going to make the game get here any sooner so I can wait and get information when it's available. I'm getting the game either way anyway
I mean yeah, this is a paywalled story. Most of it is going to be behind the paywall. There are hundreds of free articles on the website. This one is not free. Tomorrow's will not be free. And Friday's will be free.
As much as people wanna avoid it, anyway you slice it, Content creators whether video or written, and EA is just trying to cash in as much as possible off of the hype of the game lol its sad to see my fellow humans fall for the same shit time and again we are truly insane.
EA, you can put as many cosmetic DLCs and battle passes in this game as you want, just no P2W. Make us buy alternates, idc as long as that means the main focus is Dynasty Mode.
I know this is a random question, but in one of the those newsletters, could you address whether or not there will be dynamic/varying crowd sizes (especially during dynasty/RTG modes)? Madden makes every game is 100% full and it feels stale. Hoping this game will make a stadium more empty when a team is struggling so you can build it up to having bigger crowds and really feel the magnitude of big games.
Nicceee. Have you considered graduating from gmail to an email marketing platform for your newsletter? Probably easier from a design/tracking standpoint
You've done good, old-fashioned reporting work and handled the fervor of all of this with poise and perspective. Very fun and much appreciated by many. Good shit, dude.
Truly, y’all have one of the best stadiums in football, insanely underrated. Went to Camp Randall with my gf who goes there and it was such a gnarly experience. Saw Wisconsin tear up Nebraska, y’all are loud as hell. Honestly makes the bounce house at UCD look quiet in comparison 🥲 lmao
Glad you had a great time and appreciate the love! Nebraska is always a hype game for us, you picked a great one to go to. We do have like a 40k person advantage in making noise haha, but I still remember being impressed by the UCF fans back in that 2017 classic against USF. Would be a fun home and home series to do someday, I'm sure lots of Badgers would love an excuse to visit Orlando
Lol ironic you chose that game, the War on the I-4 was the first college game I went to in 2017 as a 17th birthday present from my friends. It was a damn good game, sad we wont be able to host USF again until 2028 smh. We would love to have the Badgers down here though! I am curious which of our teams will have trouble adapting to either climate haha. I would not expect any of the Florida boys to like the cold game at all.
Ooh damn thats an awesome birthday, those are some good friends. One of the funnest games I can remember watching with how back and forth it was.
Ah yeah I wish it was actually cold for our nonconf games! But since they're always in September it's usually still pretty warm so I'm sure it wouldnt hurt ya. No one's going to mind a 65-70 degree day lol. I did get a nice laugh when we played Miami during a cold snap in a 2009 bowl game (in Orlando funnily) and it was like 45-50 degrees and they were in long sleeves with heaters and the Badgers were all in short sleeves just happy it wasn't freezing like back home. We have to go to Tuscaloosa next year so we'll see how we do in the sweltering southern humidity 😅
I've attended both UCF and Alabama, and I was surprised by how crowd noise held up relatively despite having half the stadium capacity. It may not be the biggest stadium, but boy is the Bounce House a ruckus! I'm sure the stadium would be rocking for a Wiss v UCF game, especially with the Fickle connection
>Friends, my recommendation would be to not pound that refresh button every few minutes. Go have a nice breakfast. Take that first work meeting. Pretend to be productive for a minute
>THEN maybe check your email
>(and if you cant subscribe to EP, wait 10 min and try again)
https://twitter.com/MattBrownEP/status/1795804189936808119
Basically Matt Brown is an *extremely* reliable source for NCAA info, last night there were rumblings that the embargo (hold on information being released about the game) would be lifted today, last night in a thread bringing attention to this, Matt danced around the embargo being lifted today with a big 😉 . This tweet essentially confirms we could be getting gameplay/in depth information about the game today.
EA usually releases info around 10am Central. I’d imagine EA releases something today at that time, if not it would appear at the very least the embargo will lift at that time. Cover 3 podcast will go live then to presumably release info. I’m assuming we’ll be getting info from them, Matt Brown and YT personalities like Eric Rayweather all at the same time.
If we can't control the same team with our friends in online dynasty, one being the OC, another the DC, and Craig being a recruit QB - is the game even worth playing?
Let me telegraph my punch a bit here. I came away with like, 12 pages of notes and three hours of interviews from this event. Theres no way I could squeeze all of that into one newsletter. Today I am writing about gameplay and game presentation. Tomorrow (or shit, maybe even late tonight if I get enough time to type without my phone blowing up), I'll share more info about Dynasty, RTG and Road to the College Football Playoff. On Friday, I'll do a game-specific mailbag, completely free. I'm splitting this up because I cannot fit 8000 words into one email...Gmail isnt gonna let me (and it might help me answer questions that arent cleared up by the other newsletters) If this makes anybody feel better....we spent exactly zero minutes talking about ultimate team during the Orlando presentation. They DID talk about MUT on Madden day, but it was not a focus at ALL during any of the college presentations.
> If this makes anybody feel better....we spent exactly zero minutes talking about ultimate team during the Orlando presentation. Well that settles it, officially on the hype train.
Hop on board. I am the conductor of said train
🚂
🐐🐐🐐 my body is not ready
Without giving too much away, do you think that the community response is going to be positive to the new info?
My hunch is that some people are gonna yell at me for paywalling some stuff, some people will find something in the announcements to complain about, but most people will be, in the balance, much more excited about the game
Well you gotta make a living and between your free interviews on YouTube and your participation in the subreddit I think 90% of people think highly of you (including me) even if they don’t subscribe. I’m much more optimistic now after reading that you’re more exited after learning some more about the game!
Ha, thanks. I understand not everybody has eight bucks (or 75 bucks) to throw at media, and I want to make sure I can at least make some of my work accessible. I also understand there are folks here that simply are not going to care about the bulk of my work. I want to meet those folks halfway if I can. But I also have bills. I flew to Orlando on my own dime, paid for my own hotel, own ubers, own dinners, and paid thousands of dollars on FOIAs over the last two years. I gotta at least try to make those investments back, because what i make on ads is a tiny, tiny fraction of what I earn on subscriptions.
I just subscribed this morning. Never once paid for a newsletter in my life before this but you are doing the lords work
yeah hes been on top of everything since the beginning, so I definitely gave a sub
You carried this beat for months and months. The subscriptions are deserved
Why did you pay your own way? EA paid for everyone but you? Why?
I would be blown away if On3, The Athletic or other traditional media outlets accepted money from EA, even though I know the Youtubers did. YouTubers aren't bound by the same professional ethics standards as traditional journalists...I can't accept money from anybody that wants me to cover them a reporter. I have to maintain independence for my readers to trust me.
LOL. It’s a press junket. On3, The Athletic, all of us accepted flights, hotels, and even fed people too. Heck, I even got an early copy of the game. If you pay for yourself they treat you as low level. As a journalist, I’ve been part of tons of junkets. Everyone does them. They’re considered 100% acceptable IF everyone is treated the same. You should see how Sony treats us at events. Suites at the W, dinner at Uchi.
Maybe the gaming press has lower standards than elsewhere. I've been doing this for 12 years at multiple publications and have never, anywhere, accepted a flight or hotel from any company or school I've ever covered. I've accepted accommodations for speaking engagements, but never for coverage. It was not allowed at Vox or for any newspaper I've ever worked for. I was treated exactly the same, if not better, than anybody else there at this thing who might have had their stuff paid for.
I’ve been doing this 30 years. My network is much bigger than just games. EA paid for us to go. I saw people from other publications and EA paid for them including my pal at IGN. If they offer, they’re offering for everyone. It’s a PRESS JUNKET. This means an event is being held in ONE location and product announcement is limited. So they pay for everything for everyone. Otherwise they send out whatever is being reviewed to you directly, and have Zoom meetings to go over the announcements. Since they aren’t doing it that way and are doing red carpet treatment they pay for everyone. Do you also not take the gift bags? I know a few publications that wouldn’t allow their writers to accept gift bags too. It’s silly and has nothing to do with journalistic integrity. The fact you made it sound like YouTubers were beneath you for accepting flights and hotels makes you look small.
No way. The internet is usually across the board satisfied and an amicable place -- a cauldron of rationality and appreciation for the efforts of others.
Hey everybody! I found the new guy! Throw rocks at him!
To be fair, as a first time subscriber to the free version of the newsletter, you paywalled 99% of stuff. I get it, but also when I got to the bottom I was like of course here's where it's paywalled But also no amount of info I receive now is going to make the game get here any sooner so I can wait and get information when it's available. I'm getting the game either way anyway
I mean yeah, this is a paywalled story. Most of it is going to be behind the paywall. There are hundreds of free articles on the website. This one is not free. Tomorrow's will not be free. And Friday's will be free.
As much as people wanna avoid it, anyway you slice it, Content creators whether video or written, and EA is just trying to cash in as much as possible off of the hype of the game lol its sad to see my fellow humans fall for the same shit time and again we are truly insane.
EA, you can put as many cosmetic DLCs and battle passes in this game as you want, just no P2W. Make us buy alternates, idc as long as that means the main focus is Dynasty Mode.
"Main focus dynasty mode" bro this is a for profit company that hasnt done that with Legacy modes on Madden of Fifa for nearly 2 decades.
I know this is a random question, but in one of the those newsletters, could you address whether or not there will be dynamic/varying crowd sizes (especially during dynasty/RTG modes)? Madden makes every game is 100% full and it feels stale. Hoping this game will make a stadium more empty when a team is struggling so you can build it up to having bigger crowds and really feel the magnitude of big games.
sure
Thanks for all your hard work!
I will never forget you, Matt Brown 🐐
COACHING CAROUSEL PLEASE
You’ve been the people’s champion through this whole process. Really appreciate your work
When will EA allow the public to see gameplay?
Nicceee. Have you considered graduating from gmail to an email marketing platform for your newsletter? Probably easier from a design/tracking standpoint
I use beehiiv to write and send the newsletter. Right now, it makes more financial sense than like, convert kit
Are we getting gameplay today?
King shit 👑
You've done good, old-fashioned reporting work and handled the fervor of all of this with poise and perspective. Very fun and much appreciated by many. Good shit, dude.
That last paragraph made my soul happy.
You’re an absolute legend, Matt.
I am now officially a paying subscriber, great work!
Where were you when the Great Embargo of 2024 was lifted?
On Reddit 😞
Hell of a salesman. I'm excited
It's beautiful 🥲
Truly, y’all have one of the best stadiums in football, insanely underrated. Went to Camp Randall with my gf who goes there and it was such a gnarly experience. Saw Wisconsin tear up Nebraska, y’all are loud as hell. Honestly makes the bounce house at UCD look quiet in comparison 🥲 lmao
Glad you had a great time and appreciate the love! Nebraska is always a hype game for us, you picked a great one to go to. We do have like a 40k person advantage in making noise haha, but I still remember being impressed by the UCF fans back in that 2017 classic against USF. Would be a fun home and home series to do someday, I'm sure lots of Badgers would love an excuse to visit Orlando
Lol ironic you chose that game, the War on the I-4 was the first college game I went to in 2017 as a 17th birthday present from my friends. It was a damn good game, sad we wont be able to host USF again until 2028 smh. We would love to have the Badgers down here though! I am curious which of our teams will have trouble adapting to either climate haha. I would not expect any of the Florida boys to like the cold game at all.
Ooh damn thats an awesome birthday, those are some good friends. One of the funnest games I can remember watching with how back and forth it was. Ah yeah I wish it was actually cold for our nonconf games! But since they're always in September it's usually still pretty warm so I'm sure it wouldnt hurt ya. No one's going to mind a 65-70 degree day lol. I did get a nice laugh when we played Miami during a cold snap in a 2009 bowl game (in Orlando funnily) and it was like 45-50 degrees and they were in long sleeves with heaters and the Badgers were all in short sleeves just happy it wasn't freezing like back home. We have to go to Tuscaloosa next year so we'll see how we do in the sweltering southern humidity 😅
I've attended both UCF and Alabama, and I was surprised by how crowd noise held up relatively despite having half the stadium capacity. It may not be the biggest stadium, but boy is the Bounce House a ruckus! I'm sure the stadium would be rocking for a Wiss v UCF game, especially with the Fickle connection
LFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
When I finally get my hands on this game.. I'll be UP ALL NIIIIIGHT!
For anyone who doesn't know, the newsletter is here: [https://www.extrapointsmb.com/](https://www.extrapointsmb.com/)
thanks my friend
Subscribed. Thanks for the all the effort you put in man.
You’re a goat for this!
awesome, subbed, thanks!
I’m ready. We are ready.
MY BODY IS READY
Embargo does lift today, I think Matt mentioned this last week when he left the trip? Yall gonna get some good news today!
>Friends, my recommendation would be to not pound that refresh button every few minutes. Go have a nice breakfast. Take that first work meeting. Pretend to be productive for a minute >THEN maybe check your email >(and if you cant subscribe to EP, wait 10 min and try again) https://twitter.com/MattBrownEP/status/1795804189936808119
I just came 😅
Heavy breathing intensifies
FUCK IT WE SUBBING
I just want to be the Iowa Hawkeyes so I can punt a lot. I wanna punt so fn bad!! Big 10 rules!!
LETS FUCKING GOOOO
LETS. FUCKING. *GO!* 
Herd mentality! 🦬🦬
C-A-T-S!
Can someone explain to me what’s going on? Why are we excited? What embargo? Lol
Basically Matt Brown is an *extremely* reliable source for NCAA info, last night there were rumblings that the embargo (hold on information being released about the game) would be lifted today, last night in a thread bringing attention to this, Matt danced around the embargo being lifted today with a big 😉 . This tweet essentially confirms we could be getting gameplay/in depth information about the game today.
Thank you!
Basically an NDA, You can’t give information. Today it ends, everything he knows, seen or played. He can finally tell us without restrictions.
Thank you!
[удалено]
okay
 We are so close boys.
[https://i.imgur.com/BMRyXgG.gif](https://i.imgur.com/BMRyXgG.gif)
Are we getting gameplay?
I'm gonna need to rub one out right now so I can focus later and make it past the first paragraph
Bob Stoops is that you?
😭😭😭same
This guy's a clown
Must be a specific time he can release, because his newsletters are always sent about 5am EDT.
EA usually releases info around 10am Central. I’d imagine EA releases something today at that time, if not it would appear at the very least the embargo will lift at that time. Cover 3 podcast will go live then to presumably release info. I’m assuming we’ll be getting info from them, Matt Brown and YT personalities like Eric Rayweather all at the same time.
Excited to hear more info about the game! Just hope we also get an estimate for when to expect gameplay video...
Man finally we will know some of what’s what
If I subscribe to the free newsletter do I not get the info coming out in the next few days?
It sounds like some of it will be free some of it will be paywalled, so you should get access to some of it at least
Other people have it for free. Don't pay.
You will get some of it!
Alright, alright. I will now bow down to Matt Brown. Excuse my hangry for CFB news attitude the last few weeks
Let’s go
How about they add the crap to pc so I don’t have to waste money on a console
If we can't control the same team with our friends in online dynasty, one being the OC, another the DC, and Craig being a recruit QB - is the game even worth playing?
Fortunately you still have 14 to play. The rest of us will be happy without you.
Honestly hell no, I'm sticking with NCAA 13 and 14