The prospect of a franchise mode, of taking over a multi-million-dollar sports club in order to lead them to greatness, has been a key part of sports video games ever since Madden 98 introduced the feature. Since then, it has spread into all sorts of sports games, including the MLB, the NFL and, of course, the National Hockey League. With NHL 25, EA has improved Franchise Mode in some outstanding ways, including new features for contract negotiations and more.