Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Madden 15's Super Bowl Prediction Was No Fluke
While nobody would have predicted that in real life the Seahawks would choose to pass the ball instead of activating Beast Mode with Marshawn Lynch with victory in its sights, Madden NFL 15 has been surprisingly prescient in its virtual Super Bowl predictions.
The game (which got last night's Super Bowl score dead on with the Patriots winning 28-24) has predicted the Super Bowl winner 9 of the last 12 times – even stretching back to the PlayStation 2/Xbox days. It also has correctly named the game's MVP four times out of the last seven years.
Considering that the game's sim engine habitually low-balls stats in individual games when playing against real players, it definitely seems to have a knack for getting the basics right when it comes to simulating what goes on for games when real people aren't playing (you can check out our own season-long sim for 2014).
Madden 15 - Score, Winner, and MVP correct. Patriots 28 - Seahawks 24. Tom Brady MVP
Madden 25 - Winner and MVP wrong. Real score: Seahawks 43 - Broncos 8 (Madden score: Broncos 31 - Seahawks 28). Real MVP: Malcolm Smith. Madden MVP: Peyton Manning
Madden 13 - Winner and MVP correct. Real score: Ravens 34 - 49ers 31 (Madden score: Ravens 27 - 49ers 24). Joe Flacco MVP
Madden 12 - Winner and MVP correct. Real score: Giants 21 - Patriots 17 (Madden score: Giants 27 - Patriots 24). Eli Manning MVP
Madden 11 - Winner and MVP wrong. Real score: Packers 31 - Steelers 25 (Madden score: Steelers 24 - Packers 20). Real MVP: Aaron Rodgers. Madden MVP: Mike Wallace
Madden 10 - Winner and MVP correct. Real score: Saints 31 - Colts 17 (Madden score: Saints 35 - Colts 31). Drew Brees MVP
Madden 09 - Winner correct, MVP wrong. Real score: Steelers 27 - Cardinals 23 (Madden score: Steelers 28 - Cardinals 24). Real MVP: Santonio Holmes. Madden MVP: Hines Ward
What's also interesting in proving the general accuracy of Madden's sim engine are the times that it has gotten the point differential between the two teams correct or within one point even if it could not predict the exact score (four times out of the last seven years).
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
