NBC Sports enters Madden video game universe with alternate broadcast on Peacock

NBC Sports makes its first foray into doing an NFL alternate broadcast on Saturday when it puts the matchup between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs into the realm of the Madden video game universe. CBS has done at least one game on Nickelodeon since the 2020 season, while ESPN/ABC have the “ManningCast” as well as animated presentations featuring “ The Simpsons ” and “ Toy Story.” Amazon Prime Video also has “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” during “Thursday Night Football.” “It’s ironic that you want to make the video game as much as actual live play as possible and now you are doing the opposite of trying to make the real game look like the video game,” said Josh Helmrich, the NFL’s senior director of media and Next Gen Stats. The altcast on Peacock will blend video game elements — such as Madden 25 graphics, route trees, player cards, button icons on eligible receivers and player ratings — with live action. “The one thing John held fast is you couldn’t put something in the video game that you couldn’t do in a real game,” Gaudelli said.