On Sept. 8, Electronic Arts or EA, the second-largest gaming company in the Americas, tweeted from their Madden NFL Twitter page that Colin Kaepernick was added as a playable character in the latest update of “Madden NFL 21.” This decision by EA is undoubtedly a controversial one not only because of Kaepernick’s past in the NFL, but also because of how EA has treated the situation in the past.
For those unaware, the “Madden” video games are an annual series that has been a long-standing figure in both video games and sports history. Kaepernick has not appeared in a “Madden” video game since 2016, where at the time, he was playing for the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick had been essentially blacklisted from playing in the NFL after he began kneeling for the national anthem as an act of peaceful protest against police brutality and racial injustice.
The unexpected decision to add Kaepernick to the latest “Madden” installation comes as a surprise due to EA’s treatment toward Kaepernick as a player. EA previously edited out references to Kaepernick in two songs on the “Madden 18” and “Madden 19” soundtracks. As such, EA received major backlash from fans of both the series and Kaepernick, eventually leading to an apology from the developers on Twitter in August 2018. In subsequent updates to the two games, the songs were added back into the games unedited. Developers deemed the edit as an unfortunate mistake, blaming the action of not properly understanding the licensure of Kaepernick’s image.
While some may believe that EA made a genuine mistake editing out references of Kaepernick in the two songs, I do not. As a company,EA has made far too many mistakes upsetting their fans in the past to call this action a simple mistake. Additionally, pinning the blame on not understanding licensure feels like a scapegoat given the creation and development of these games are not new concepts. Whether purposefully or not, EA made a stance in 2018 on how they felt toward Kaepernick’s protest and the movement. As such, I simply do not believe that EA has good intentions for adding Kaepernick back into the series.
It is interesting to me that, now during a very turbulent period in U.S. history and critical moments for the BLM movement, EA has made the decision to add Kaepernick back into the game. If EA truthfully stood by what Kaepernick has been protesting these past four years, then he would’ve been in the game from the get-go instead of as an afterthought in an update.
While overall it is a positive thing that Kaepernick has been added into the game despite some people disagreeing with his form of protesting, it feels like a forced public relations move from EA. In an attached statement on EA’s twitter, the company mentioned that it is part of their goal to empower their fans “to express their hopes for the future of football.” Yet, it still feels like a facade based on their lackluster apology toward Kaepernick and their apparent afterthought of Kaepernick as a playable character.
