Customization in Madden 25 looks better than it has in years

With the Madden 25 release date just a few weeks away, the latest deep dive into franchise and presentation has also confirmed a slew of customization upgrades. While core gameplay has been solid and gotten key changes in recent years, some areas of customization have been sorely lacking.

One of the biggest factors will be the introduction of Team Builder, something we can likely thank College Football 25 for, but that's not all. Madden 25 customization is also hitting a new level for Superstar Mode with one of the most requested features finally due to arrive.

Madden 25 customization features include Team Builder, tattoos, new likenesses

It was already confirmed earlier this year that Madden 25 will feature the same Team Builder customization that has already debuted in College Football 25, and that will no doubt be the star of the show. While they took the minor step forward last year of expanding relocation options and making them a bit less restrictive where specific team names and logos were tied to specific cities, Madden 24 was ultimately still using the assets that were introduced as far back as Madden 15.

Full team customization has been standard in pretty much every major sports game on the market for years, but it hasn't been available in this series since Madden 12. The new Team Builder system will take things to a new level as players can create or upload custom logos to personalize every aspect of a team including uniforms, helmets, stadium, on-field logos, and building an entirely custom player roster.

That last tidbit is even a step further than College Football 25 was able to go, as that game is playing it safe due to the complicated landscape of NIL deals that brought it back with real players this year. The ability to edit players in College Football 25 is very limited to prevent gamers from adding in college players that chose not to opt-in, but that won't be a problem for Madden 25.

One other way that they're pushing this a step further is by doubling the amount of Team Builder teams that can be imported. While College Football 25 only allows 16 Team Builder teams in an up to 32 player Online Dynasty (whether you're playing entirely against the CPU or against friends), Madden 25 will allow all 32 NFL teams to be replaced with custom Team Builder options.

That means you can literally build a league from scratch with any teams and players you want, and players who don't want to bother with Team Builder themselves can still use the Download Center to find creations uploaded by others to give them something fun to work with. The one caveat is that all Team Builder content is exclusive to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC versions of Madden 25. If you're on Xbox One or PS4, this won't be an option.

On top of those sweeping Franchise upgrades, Superstar Mode is getting some crucial changes. While the core of this career mode has been solid in recent years, player customization was lacking. For Madden 25, they've added more than 25 Create-A-Player head updates, expanded facial hair options, and tattoos are finally here. On top of that, they've added over 80 new player and coach likenesses, 10 new female coach heads, and over 40 generic player head updates for Franchise.

Madden 25 looks poised to be the best installment this series has seen in years, and customization will be a big part of that. However, it's a tough hill to climb as they're up against the massive success of the most highly anticipated sports game in history. College Football 25 has set a new standard after years of Madden being the only real football game in town, and Madden 25 has to prove to players that it's worth having both. Only time will tell if Madden 25 can live up to the hype, but so far they've made all the right moves.