Yesterday EA Sports made official the release date for Madden NFL 16 and mentioned that the first news on the game will arrive in May. Now though a vague feature description has appeared via retailers that provides a hint at one feature to expect from the game.

Be the playmaker in Madden NFL 16 with all-new controls that allow you to dominate in the battle for air supremacy.

Last year the developers promised that Madden 16 would have work done to improve the battle between receivers and defenders for the ball. Not being able to exploit single coverage downfield, even with talents like Calvin Johnson, has been one of the biggest flaws with the series in recent years. Throwing deep even in advantageous situations would too often result in interceptions. The receiver would not go up to fight for the ball or would simply be out of position making no effort to challenge for it while corners and safeties jump them for picks.

New controls to go up for the catch or defend it could be intriguing though no one was necessarily asking for that to be the fix to the problem. It would fit with the design philosophy however considering the defensive line got it’s own special controls in Madden NFL 15.

Today EA Sports announced an official release date for Madden NFL 16 of August 25. That date doesn’t come as any sort of surprise given how the game has gone out on the last Tuesday of August now since Madden NFL 12.

The logo image that EA utilized for the announcement appears to be Madden 15’s with a 6 drawn on top of the 5. There’s an easy joke to be made there.

The NFL season does begin a bit later this year than normal with the kick-off game on September 10 and opening Sunday falling on September 13. Madden NFL 16 then will land shortly after week two of the preseason. EA Access subscribers on Xbox One will also get to play it for six early hours beginning on August 20.

No further news was provided other than to look for information to come in May. That could mean no roll out of either a cover vote, teaser trailer, or first info on the game to coincide with the NFL Draft which would be somewhat unusual. That still can’t be ruled out however given that the Draft begins on the final day of the month and carries into May.

One question posed by many people over recent weeks relates to why nothing yet has come out on Madden NFL 16. A precedent of early news on the game accompanied by the official announcement in the March-April stretch had been set over the years. In the case of Madden NFL 15 though things took a significant shift back in particular with the start of the cover vote and that’s likely a similar schedule they’ll be adhering to with Madden 16.

The fan vote for the representative to appear on the cover of Madden 15 began on May 8. From 2010-13 that was a February or March type of event. The NFL Draft however was held a few weeks later than the norm last year and the cover voting began on its first day. So even with dwindling relevance it remains possible that a cover vote will still be held for Madden 16 and if it’s to coincide with the NFL Draft again expect it announced late this month.

As far as what really matters, gameplay and feature information for the game and/or a trailer, that should be coming soon as well. Last year a teaser trailer, vague feature descriptions, and pre-order incentive details went out April 28. After that the cover vote became the focus until the real promotion began in June with E3. The first Madden 16 news should be just around the corner.