EA Sports Uses Photo of the Wrong Player in Madden 13 Video Game

The sports division of Electronic Arts (EA Sports) prides itself in having an “incredibly realistic and authentic” game experience, offering every detail of the NFL they can cram into their immensely popular Madden NFL franchise. That attention to detail seems to have been missed in at least one instance in this year’s version of the game.

While the usual flaws of the game tend to be glitches in announcer commentary or game physics from year to year, reviews of this year’s version of Madden have been pretty positive. I haven’t had the opportunity to check out this year’s game yet, but the new physics engine and commentary from the CBS Sports crew are apparently major upgrades.

With all of the accolades being given in reviews, one New York Giants player is less than thrilled with this year’s Madden game. Marcus Thomas, a defensive tackle for the Giants took to Twitter to express his disgust with EA Sports after they used a photo of a different Marcus Thomas – one that has been out of the NFL for three years.

Here’s the string of tweets from Thomas’s Twitter account:

the creators of madden needs to b slapped for putting an imposter pic in place of me that’s not me for the last time I don’t look like that

— Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

I been in the nfl going on 6years and y’all still hav another mans face for my pic on madden i hate y’all hate is very strong but I do — Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

Madden is disrespectful practice your craft and make it realistic I’m in newyork now help me please someone call madden and tell him lol — Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

How y’all gone hav my pic rookie season and then change it to a completely dif person for ds rest of my career — Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

Man im angry now u right madden is very unprofessional

— Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

dear mr @eamaddennfl i com to you humbly sir. Can u please put the right photo of me on the madden it’s been 6years not lol maybe a giggle — Marcus Thomas (@MarcusThomas_79) August 28, 2012

EA Sports accidentally used a photo of running back Marcus Thomas, who coincidentally was a teammate of the Marcus Thomas in question in this story. Thomas (defensive tackle) played for the Denver Broncos from 2007 to 2011, and Thomas (running back) also played in Denver in 2009 before leaving the NFL.

Here is Thomas’s profile as it appears in the game. The team in player information is correct, but the photo is obviously that of the other Thomas (see below).

Here is a side-by-side photo of both Marcus Thomases. The one on the left is the defensive tackle currently playing for the Giants (the one making the fuss). The one on the right is Marcus Thomas, the running back that is no longer in the NFL.

As the story goes, it is suspected that somebody at EA Sports got the image files mixed up due to the shared name and common team. After (defensive tackle) Thomas’s rant on Twitter, his voice was heard by EA Sports. They are promising a fix in an upcoming update for the game.

 

[NFL.com]