Although that sounds unlikely, I believe you if you say so. EA and Nintendo were best buddies in the early '90s, so perhaps it stems from those times?

Still, judging by lack of interest from both parties and philosophy-wise, these companies have hugely different ideas about gaming to say the least.

I respect that. I know I can't play at the level that professionals do, but I still feel like it's the same basic thing. And I'm not against all traditional sports games. Things I kind of want to do in real life but would be afraid to/it would be illegal to, like racing and fighting, I can appreciate as video games. So I do still enjoy racers that aren't Mario Kart and fighters that aren't Street Fighter/Smash. To me though, games like American football, soccer, basketball, and the like are things I'd rather do in real life if I wanted to play them that much. Obviously I don't speak for everyone, and wasn't trying to. With that comment, I was just trying to say that while I agree with OP that it's pretty fucked up that EA ported FIFA but not Madden, as if FIFA was profitable enough to get the next year's installment then Madden should be as well, I personally am not that devastated as OP because it's not my style of game. I'm certainly not trying to speak for you guys.

That said, I also feel like EA's business model for their sports games is BS. Of all their franchises, the sports games are the ones that would benefit from an "as a service" model. With how few changes they make, you should be able to just buy one game from any year, and just pay to have the roster updated each year, models updated, and any new features they add. You'd only have to buy a new game when they make an all new engine for a new system or something. Rather than buying FIFA 14,15,16,17,18, etc, just buy FIFA. A generic FIFA that can be updated each year for a cost, or you could skip as many years as you feel like. Instead, they go for the annual release business model for EA Sports, and use the games as a service model for Star Wars, which deserves a standalone game release with a proper campaign and a single price point, and DLC that doesn't make the main game feel incomplete, and no microtransactions. Anything small enough to be a microtransaction deserves to be included in the $60 price tag.

But like OP said, EA is annoying. Understatement of the year.

FIFA has a lot more global appeal than Madden does. I think it's very likely that Madden just doesn't have a good history of selling on Nintendo devices. So EA probably feels that where FIFA on Switch would actually sell, Madden would not. They have to decide if making Madden for Switch is worth the effort. If it's just going to lose them money and they know it, then there is no point. Most of the time, companies aren't up for spending money to make a game if they don't think it will sell just for the sake of having it on a certain platform. Companies like Bethesda and Ubisoft are taking risks in putting their games on Switch. Smaller companies like PlatinumGames are being paid directly by Nintendo to make games for them. Recent history has shown that most third-party games don't sell well on Nintendo consoles. EA isn't up for taking those risks, clearly. Especially if Nintendo isn't giving them any incentives to do so.

I never understood that point. You're not even close on the level what players can do in these games. It's literally not possible for you to do it yet you claim that you need something that's only possible in games. Show me your bicycle kicks, rabonas and 35m free kick goals (hint: Roberto Carlos). Please do. And that's just FIFA.

EA Sports Games are for fans of the sport. You are obviously not a sports person. I do agree that FIFA could be a prime example of GaaS done right. But I'm sure EA would fuck it up.

See my previous response. I don't pretend to speak for everyone, but for me personally, the ability to do specific tricks or techniques that master players have isn't enough. It has to be, on a very fundamental level, something I can't do in real life or won't do because it's more risk than I'm willing to take. I obviously respect it if you don't feel the same. I'm also not very into watching professional sports for the same reasons, but I can imagine the additional fantasy of playing as or alongside of the pros you admire probably excites some people too, just not me.

It does suck that they don't have Madden, the closet thing to American Football the Switch is a Mutant Football League game that is poised to arrive later on. As a fellow NFL fan I feel your pain.

The same reason why Nintendo doesn't release their games on other platforms. Money.

Why would you want to support them?

Instead of writing about how you are enjoying Madden with your son, you write about how annoying EA is by not releasing the game on your console but you don't mention what you are doing to procure a copy of Madden to play with your son.

Why not buy a legacy system, current gen alternative or standalone PC game that you can buy Madden on? Madden depreciates in value extremely quickly. Whatever the cost, I am sure it'll be worth it to play Madden with your son. Problem solved.