Caleb Williams, the young quarterback for the Chicago Bears, recently received one of the most prestigious accolades for an NFL player.
No, it wasn’t an MVP award or Super Bowl ring. Williams was chosen as the cover star for Madden NFL 27, which launches worldwide on August 27.
It is perhaps not as high up on Williams’ wish list as winning the Super Bowl with the Bears; they have an outside chance this season according to the NFL odds.
Yet, it is one of the modern “I have made it moments” to be chosen as the cover star for a Madden game. For Williams, it is a recognition that he could be one of the future faces of the NFL.
The cover star is a big deal in sports games
Of course, it is not just NFL stars that get features on the covers of video games. NBA stars do too, and there are also soccer players who front EA Sports FC/FIFA games. It’s also a big deal to be selected as the cover star for WWE 2K games. The tradition has been going for a few decades now.
But what of the future? Recently, Sony announced plans to end physical discs, citing 2028 as the target year.
The announcement was both unsurprising and controversial, with many believing that it is about control, as allowing players to access games with a download code opens up the possibility that a game can be switched off.
There are other concerns, too, including the fact that the end of physical video game discs would mean that you essentially can’t loan a game to someone, nor sell it on after you have finished with it.
On paper, the cover star would live on. Indeed, Sony has indicated it will still sell the physical box/cover of video games, which will contain a download code inside. Yet, it is almost certain that without the disc inside, there would be a marked decline in the sales of those physical boxes.
Would that render the cover star meaningless? Not necessarily. As we hinted earlier, the choice of cover star is a kind of unofficial crowning of a player finally making it to the top or a recognition of a legendary career.
The practice of having a cover star would likely continue, even if the sales in game boxes completely collapse.
But not having a physical box would lessen the exposure, and it could possibly lead to less emphasis put on the accolade in the future.
Parallels with the decline of album artwork
In a sense, it is similar to the decline of physical musical album sales. Album artwork used to be such a significant part of the ‘experience’ of buying music – iconic images like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and many more.
Morgan Wallen, BTS and Bad Bunny are among those with the best-selling albums of 2026 so far – would the average person on the street be able to describe the album artwork?
Perhaps in the grander scheme of things, the cover star doesn’t really matter. It’s what’s inside that counts, i.e., the game itself.
But it is just one example among many of what could happen should the physical gaming disc be lost. Both Williams and Victor Wembanyama (NBA 2K27) have been unveiled as the year’s cover stars – will it be as big a deal ten years from now?