Madden NFL 15 is an   based on the  and published by . The game was announced for the , ,  and  on April 28, 2014, and was released on August 26, 2014, in the  and  three days later. As in previous years, EA Sports conducted a fan vote via  to elect the cover athlete for the game.  cornerback  won the cover vote and the rest of the  defense was featured on the game's start menu.

The game was announced in late April 2014. It was shown in a release video featuring  linebacker and  Luke Kuechly. The game was further detailed at ; a particular emphasis was placed on improvements to defensive play. Creative director Rex Dickson noted that many players had difficulties with the  and tackling; the "player lock" camera from  was added, along with a cone (similar to the controversial "QB Vision" cone from ) to determine whether or not a player can make a non-aggressive tackle against a player from their current location.

In an effort to improve the presentation of the game, Brian Murray, who was mentored by '  and was a consultant on previous editions, was given a new role as "Presentation Director" for the game. Work was made on using technology introduced in previous installments, along with a new "global dynamic camera system", to give the game's "broadcasts" a more professional feel with more details; these include the replacement of pre-rendered "post-play" cut scenes with dynamic scenes that feature players interacting, and can, additionally, respond to references of players by commentators with relevant camera shots and on-screen graphics, and the revival of the halftime show.  in stadiums now display scenes generated by the dynamic cameras (as opposed to generic splash screens or the same camera angle in use), and NFL teams also provided the graphics they use for their respective screens and ribbon displays.

After 's indefinite suspension on September 8, 2014, EA Sports announced they would completely remove Rice from the game. His card in Madden Ultimate Team was renamed Baltimore Halfback #25