Playing Madden Raises Football IQ

A study by the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center had the results released today that show NFL fans who play Madden are more knowledgeable about the sport than those who don’t play the game. Apparently it is not an insignificant difference either. The football IQ of Madden players came out 60% higher than non-Madden players.

The survey also shows a correlation between the total hours of playing Madden NFL per week and football IQ, as scores increased the more a gamer played Madden NFL. A Madden NFL gamer who rarely plays the game attained an average score of 20.4, less than one hour a week scored 20.9, one to five hours per week scored 21.4, six to ten hours per week scored 22.4 and a Madden NFL gamer who plays more than ten hours a week earned an average score of 22.7.

Two specific examples of questions were mentioned. What does it mean to bring an 8th man into the box? Madden players got it right 83% of the time and non-Madden players 47%. What is the purpose of sending a man in motion before an offensive play? Madden players with 59% and non-Madden 19%.

Of course some of this should be attributed to many who play Madden being dedicated, more likely to be hardcore NFL fans to begin with. But there is certainly an element of sports games that teach these days. We’ve seen that in what I would think an even larger extent from the NHL and FIFA titles as they have begun to attract consumers who don’t even necessarily follow the sports and their Be a Pro modes offer another way to learn the rules and nuances.