Superstar mode is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Madden NFL 26 and EA Sports is paying special attention to it this year's iteration -- in what it calls "the largest and most impactful update in Superstar's history." Alongside a reworked slate of core features, the integration with College Football's Road to Glory mode returns as well, allowing fans to import their high school and college stars into Superstar mode to continue their stories in professional play.
Superstar mode will provide players with a better sense of where they're at in their career, giving their campaign more structure and clearer goals in the form of the career chapters.
The experience of playing a backup has been revamped and no longer features endless drills. Players will get realistic opportunities on the field to replace an injured player or wrap up a dominant victory from time to time -- if played right, these chances can result in a promotion, advancing players from the backup career chapter.
However, the new Superstar experience also contains consequences for players who aren't delivering strong performances. Athletes could get benched if they don't do what the coaches expect of them. A career chapter dominated by bench time, similar to the backup experience, has its opportunities for redemption, though.
If players find themselves stuck in a bad situation with their current team, they can influence their agent and demand to be traded. Naturally, switching teams comes with its own challenges, like having to rebuild relationships and earn trust with the coaching staff.
As players fulfill certain conditions, they can move from chapter to chapter, eventually earning a spot in the Hall of Fame. This chapter progression works in synergy with another core mechanic called sphere of influence.
This system is all about managing relationships on and off the pitch. Pleasing everyone is not possible, but pleasing the right people for where you're currently at in your career is doable. Players can do that by earning influence points through their decisions and plays, unlocking positive or negative relationship effects with team mates, coaching staff, fans, media and more.
Superstar mode's third new key feature is called Game Day Beats and follows a similar logic as some of the changes made to other Madden NFL 26 modes, namely to make every game more unique, turning it into its own little narrative.
Over 500 different beats will be available at launch, keeping Superstar matches from being repetitive.
