If It’s in the Game, It’s in the Trailer for Amazon Prime Video’s ‘Madden NFL’ Doc

Boom! Amazon Prime Video has released the trailer for “It’s in the Game,” the streaming service’s docuseries about the “Madden” football video game series.

“It’s in the Game: Madden NFL” will premiere on November 26, which is also a piece of today’s news, just in time for your Thanksgiving dinner. It was John Madden the sportscaster who first introduced (and then annually reintroduced) most of America to the turducken — a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey — each November. Madden, a former NFL player and later a coach, called 20 Thanksgiving games on TV.

The documentary will tell what Prime Video says is the “never-been-told story of ‘Madden NFL,’ from its archaic 8-bit origins to its success as an annual must have — against all odds.” The docuseries will include a treasure trove of “never-been-seen” EA Sports vault footage, “while also allowing cameras to follow along as the team finishes the next generation of the game.”

“What started as an unlikely pairing between a computer whiz and a football legend, ignited a revolution and triggered a seismic collision between the worlds of jocks and geeks,” the synopsis continues. “They should have failed. Instead, their game changed the game — and our culture, too.”

That’s not really an overstatement — the “Madden” games did change so much. The only problem is, the game itself doesn’t seem to change much year to year; “It’s in the Game” will cover that annual controversy among gamers.

“It’s in the Game” (the catchphrase for EA Sports originated as “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game”) is produced by the A+E Factual Studios group, Michael Strahan’s SMAC Productions, Misher Films, and MTP.

The docuseries is executive produced by Kevin Misher and Andy Berman of Misher Films, Strahan, Constance Schwartz-Morini, and FredAnthony Smith of SMAC Entertainment, Mike Tollin of MTP, Sandy Montag of The Montag Group, Steve Ascher, Kristy Sabat, and Jessica Conway of A+E Factual Studios, Daryl Holt, Seann Graddy, and Julie Foster of EA Sports, and Nathan Caswell, Jeremiah Zagar, and Jeremy Yaches of Public Record. Caswell and Zagar served as directors.

“It’s in the Game: Madden NFL” will be available in 240 countries and territories worldwide; watch the trailer (and the evolution of video games, basically) here: