Madden Streamers Are Going On ‘Strike’ Over In-Game Gambling Odds

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Like I’ve said only this week, there are no amount of tweets, reviews or comments that can make publishers walk back the extent to which they’ve monetised major sports game series in 2022. The only thing that moves the needle with these companies is money, and so the only way for disgruntled players to get their point across is to withhold that money.

So seeing content creators mobilise as a means of protest is heartening! Though it’s also wild to consider that a decade of turning sports games into shakedowns has normalised things to the extent that people are “striking” not to have the modes thrown out, or made entirely free considering you have already spent $60 on the game. No, they just want the odds of their favourite game mode—a mode that is essentially built on gambling, something many governments are now legally investigating—changed to be a little more in their favour.

It’s like asking your prison warden for fluffier pillows. It remains to be seen of course how successful this “strike” will be, but if it does have some kind of impact with EA Sports, I’d hope this at least sets a precedent for sports game fans—if they’re really as sick of this constant nickel-and-diming as much as they say they are—to start taking some more drastic action.