Expect another stunning finish in Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. And expect a familiar result, if events play out as predicted by the annual EA Sports Madden NFL Super Bowl simulation.
The simulation, played out last week by the video game publishers, resulted in Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passing for 327 yards and three touchdowns – and one interception – but Eli Manning and the Giants won 27-24 on a field goal by Lawrence Tynes.
“We made all the proper adjustments to the Patriots and Giants and accounted for injuries and all that and put them in the Super Bowl stadium and simmed it away,” says EA Sports’ director of marketing Anthony Stevenson. “It came out a repeat of history.”
Since 2004 when EA Sports predicted that the Patriots would beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, its simulation played through the Madden NFL video game engine has been remarkably reliable. It has correctly predicted six of the last eight Super Bowl outcomes, but incorrectly last year chose the Steelers to beat the Packers.
