Over the past year and some change, football video game fans have had some huge pieces of good news. Last year, 2K announced that it would be returning to the NFL-licensed football game market; albeit with a "non-simulation" licensed game -- and we still have no clue what that is going to entail. Earlier this year, EA announced that it would be resurrecting its college football series under the apt banner "EA Sports College Football".
For years, there were no football games at all except for Madden, so the boom of indie football games starting around 2018 / 2019 created a little renaissance of competing products looking to fill the vaccum left by the absence of competition and lack of niche titles like a college football games. As good as the news of new games from 2K and EA is, one thing that worried me was whether or not the indie football games (Axis Football, Maximum Football, Sunday Rivals, Legend Bowl, and so forth) would survive the impending release of new, big-budget football games entering the market. Well, the first indie casualty of the AAA announcements came on Wednesday night.
David Winter, the founder, owner, and lead developer of Canuck Games announced Wednesday night over Discord that plans for future versions of Maximum Football have been canceled, and the company Canuck Play is terminating its business operations. Apparently, Winter is offering the Maximum Football IP (and I think also the game code) up for sale. It's possible that another studio may purchase rights to Maximum Football and resume development, but it seems exceedingly unlikely that any new Maximum Football games will be coming out.
David Winter, owner of Canuck Play, announced the cancellation of Maximum Football and closure of the studio.
In his announcement, Winter cited several factors in the decision. Perhaps the most important one is his own health. He had been working himself 7 days a week for lengthy periods of time, and said that he had to be hospitalized for stress and fatigue. I'm a huge supporter of a stable and healthy work / life balance, and no job is (in my opinion) worth working yourself sick; least of all a video game. I certainly can't fault him for his decision, and I, personally, probably would have thrown in the towel a lot sooner if I had been in his shoes. Take care of yourself, David. Your health (both physical and mental) comes first.
Winter also cited EA's announcement of its upcoming college football game as a major contributing factor in the decision. In 2019, Maximum Football rebranded itself from being a Canadian football game to being a college football game, with the introduction of a college Dynasty mode. Personally, I always thought that this was a bad move. I understood it as a business decision at the time, as there was huge desire for a college football game, and nobody was filling that market demand. However, this move shifted Maximum Football away from its core identity as a Canadian football game, broadened the scope well beyond the ability of such a tiny group of developers to reasonably handle, and introduced a massive set of new challenges for the developers to overcome. I always feared that as soon as a bigger studio came along with a more polished college football product (whether it be EA, 2K, or even IMV with its crowd-funded Gridiron Champions that never saw the light of day), then Maximum Football would be kind of dead in the water. I didn't expect it to happen so quickly, but I figured it was an inevitability.
Maximum Football moved away from its Canadian football roots.
If another company does actually buy Maximum Football, I hope its another Canadian studio, and that they re-focus the game as a Canadian football sim. Doubling-down on its Canadian identity would give the game a unique selling point, would fill an otherwise vacant niche, would expose a larger audience to Canadian football, and might provide a consistent base of support from existing Canadian football fans. That doesn't mean they would have to abandon the college dynasty. They can still include a Canadian college dynasty if they want. Rather, I think they should focus on having a robust, quality game using Canadian rules first, before branching out to extensive U.S. pro and college rules and modes.
Nevertheless, it looks like we'll have to go through 2021 and 2022 without a Canadian or college football game to speak of while we wait to see what EA has to offer when EA Sports College Football releases in 2023. Or who knows? Maybe Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will buy Maximum Football and turn it into an XFL-licensed game? Hey, that's as realistic a possibility as him buying the XFL!
Status of the rest of the indie football market
As far as I know, the other high-profile indie football game, Axis Football is still planning a 2021 release. Reports from around the web indicate that Axis Games will be focusing on improving the look and feel of the on-field action in its 2021 release. If you ask me, such effort is long overdue. If you're interested in more information about Axis Football, you can subscribe to their Discord server.
I've done several comparison videos between Maximum and Axis over the years,
including this one comparing their 2019 Dynasty and Franchise modes.
Personally, I always thought Axis Football had been the superior game. It features a more complete and robust Franchise mode and was overall a smoother gameplay experience (despite its much more arcade feel compared to Maximum). That being said, I am still sad to see Maximum die. I really do feel that Maximum was poised for a breakout year in 2021, with new full-time developers and Unity partners having had a full year with the game and finally in position to make meaningful contributions. But that won't be happening.
There are other indie football games available as well. I recently purchased Sunday Rivals on sale on Steam with the intent of playing it this summer. I've also had multiple people recommend Legend Bowl to me, and I am hoping to check that out later this year as well. I plan to create some video content for my Patrons about both games after I've had a chance to play them. There's also indie games like Front Page Sports Football and Pure Football (which is still in Early Access and hasn't been updated since July 2018). So there are still indie options out there for people who dislike EA and 2K.
Maximum Football never quite came together in the way I had hoped it would, but I'm still sorry to see it go.