Electronic Arts secretly built its rival’s football game out of its own Madden.
In 1990 Sega’s football game was running late, so its president asked Trip Hawkins to call Madden Joe Montana Football. Hawkins refused, then offered a second game from Madden’s code. EA cut the playbook from 113 plays to 13, took out the 3D field and gave the players big heads. “We made sure it was totally inferior,” Hawkins said.
Electronic Arts on Brandseum