EA Sports is postponing its Madden 21 "First Look" reveal, in the wake of George Floyd's death and the ensuing protests. The reveal was originally scheduled for June 1.

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“Tomorrow, we had committed to celebrating Madden NFL 21 with you, but we’re not going to do that now," the company explained in a statement released on Twitter.

“We stand with our African American / Black community of friends, players, colleagues, and partners. Our immediate attention is on actions we can take to drive change against the unjust treatment and systemic bias that is plaguing the nation and our world," they continued. "We’ll find another time to talk football with you. Because this is bigger than a game, bigger than sports, and needs all of us to stand together and commit to change.”

Atop the statement, the phrase "It's Game Time" is written with a line through the word "game."

The game was officially announced by EA Sports during the Xbox Series X gameplay reveal event on May 7, with a short trailer and introduction from Super Bowl champion and former cover athlete, Patrick Mahomes. The company announced that anyone who purchases the game on Xbox One will receive a free upgrade to the Xbox Series X edition

The NFL Owners are set to vote on the continuation of a licensing exclusivity deal with EA Sports next week. The deal would lock in the Madden franchise as the exclusive home of the virtual NFL through the 2026 season.

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Senior NFL Reporter Albert Breer detailed the specifics of the agreement on Twitter: "People have asked if EA Sports' deal will be exclusive. Here's the language: 'the exclusive right to manufacture, market and distribute NFL-themed realistic action simulation video games.'

"Rights are non-exclusive on 'arcade-style games, youth games, and casual/mobile games.'"

2K Sports announced they've reached a multiyear agreement with the NFL in March; however, no specifics regarding the type of games 2K aims to make have been released.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explained the context surrounding the situation this week writing, "EA Sports absorbed plenty of criticism for shutting down the 2K series, which many gamers preferred to Madden. There also have been concerns that the lack of competition has prompted EA to become complacent when it comes to innovating the Madden game."

EA first purchased exclusive rights to produce NFL games in 2004. Prior to that, both companies released NFL games annually. 

The vote will take place during next week's virtual owners meeting.

EA Sports is one of the most well-known video game companies in the entire world thanks to their yearly sports titles. One of their most popular games is the Madden series which always gets football fans riled up. Every single year, gamers anticipate the unveiling of which player will grace the cover. Over the years, there has been the "Madden curse" which typically leads to misfortune for those who end up on the cover. The most recent victim was Antonio Brown who was on the cover of Madden 19. Patrick Mahomes was the face of Madden 20 and still won the Super Bowl so the curse isn't an exact science.

Today, during a Q&A session on the Baltimore Ravens Twitter account, Lamar Jackson revealed that he would be the face of the next iteration, Madden 21. This makes a whole lot of sense when you consider he is the reigning MVP and had a dominant season in 2019.

Social distancing measures will be staying in place for a long time. A recent report from Harvard indicated that there was a good chance that this would last until 2022. That being said, we’re going to have to get into creative ways to figure out how we’re going to keep ourselves entertained. Video games have been a great source of entertainment in recent times but Snoop Dogg found himself in a bit of a bind earlier today after the servers on Madden shut down.

“EA Sports. Y’all mothafuckin’ server is down. Get that shit back up. We trying to play. There’s a bunch of mothafuckas at home that’s locked and loaded right now. Fix this shit. Bill Gates, Microsoft, whoever the fuck. All these mothafuckin’ bullshit ass vaccines y’all trying to give us. Fix the mothafuckin’ video game, n***a. Now,” he demanded.

When you’re Snoop Dogg, even a brief rant like this can go the distance. Snoop returned to the ‘Gram shortly after thanking EA Sports for reaching out to him.

“I got the word from EA Sports, y’all. They under maintenance. They ’bout to get it together. It’s coming back on soon,” he said. “Thank you. Thank you very much. Now you can return to your regular schedule program.”

When Snoop Dogg is happy, everyone’s happy. Peep the clip below.