Hi Folks,

It’s hard to believe that we are in July already! Football season is just around the corner, which means it’s the time of the year where we release all of the new features that the team has been working on since our last release. Before we get to the features, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for everyone who has supported us along the way. Axis Football 2027 will be the 11th iteration in the series, and the community’s support is vital to our longevity. So for everyone at Axis Games, thank you for your support. Without further ado, we are pleased to reveal the new features coming in Axis 2027.

 

College Stats, Watchlists, & Mock Drafts

We discussed these new features in our January blog post (full post HERE), but I’ll summarize them here briefly.  Overall, we wanted the drafting and scouting process to be more realistic and rewarding, providing benefit to the user for putting in the work to find the hidden gems and busts in the draft. In the NFL, scouts use a variety of data points and intuition to determine the projected skill of potential players. College stats are a large piece of this puzzle. In Axis 27, users will have access to the college stats from all players entering the draft. These stats are visible from both the scouting window and the live draft and draft preview screens.

One of the requests we received frequently over the past two years was a better way to track players that users were interested in potentially drafting. Axis 26 already tracked players that the user scouted, but there was not a way to flag unscouted players to watch. New in Axis 27 will be the ability to add players to a watchlist. Players on the watchlist will automatically sort to the top of the draft window!

Finally, one of the coolest draft-related features coming in Axis 2027 is the new mock draft. Perhaps one of the most exciting times of the NFL offseason comes when the mock drafts start to roll in. It’s fun to see where potential superstars will land and how teams will prioritize certain positions over another. There is also a huge strategic element to knowing the likely picks coming up. Should a team go ahead and draft a player, or could they wait and snag him in the next round and grab someone else now? Knowing if other teams are interested in a player can be the difference between a good and bad draft. New in Axis 27, the old Draft Summary tab will now also show a mock draft for the next round’s picks. If there are 32 teams in a franchise, it will show the mock draft picks for the next 32 picks. If there are 12 teams in a franchise, it will show the next 12 picks. One really cool feature of the mock draft is that it will update in real time during both the season and the live draft. That means that you can use it to track which players teams are interested in during the season and use that to influence trades and free agent signings. While the mock draft won’t always be correct, it will be a useful tool for both curious players and hardcore strategists alike!

New Tackling System

Our new tackling system was discussed in detail in our March development update (full post HERE), but I will summarize here.  In Axis 2027, tackles will be internally categorized and generated based on the velocity, mass, and positioning of the players involved in the tackle. The way in which a 180lb DB attempts to tackle a 250lb RB is very different from a LB tackling a small slot receiver. The same is true for the way in which different types of runners break out of failed tackle attempts. The new tackling system in Axis 27 replicates this and creates a much more realistic set of actions. The goal was to allow different types of runners to emerge and have their on-field animations match that style.

Axis 27 will also feature roughly 75 new tackle animations that include field-specific tackles: Sideline and Goal Line. You can look forward to players now shoving runners out of bounds, watching backs attempt to reach for the goal line, or perhaps even vaulting over a defender into the end zone. Axis 27 will definitely have some new eye candy to raise the bar on the field!

Gameplay Sliders

This feature has been a long time coming. For several years, I thought I could tweak the numbers under the hood to produce the exact outcomes that everyone would be happy with. I was very wrong. The fact is, we all want the gameplay to be slightly (or sometimes not so slightly) different from how other folks want it. The solution, as many of our predecessors and contemporaries have already done, is to provide users with sliders to control various aspects of gameplay. Axis 2027 will feature the following gameplay sliders.

• Ball Security
  • Ball Security controls how well players protect the football. Increase to create more fumbles. Decrease to reduce fumble chance.
• Run Blocking
  • Run Blocking controls how consistently offensive blockers sustain run blocks against defenders. Increase to create stronger run lanes and longer-lasting blocks. Decrease to let defenders shed run blocks sooner.
• Pass Blocking
  • Pass Blocking controls how consistently pass blockers sustain protection against pass rushers. Increase to create cleaner pockets. Decrease to let pass rushers win blocks sooner.
• Throw Accuracy
  • Throw Accuracy controls how well QBs place the ball when throwing to receivers. Increase to better hit receivers in stride and reduce errant throws. Decrease to produce throws that are more varied.
• Catch While Open
  • Catch While Open controls how well offensive and defensive players catch the ball when there are no opposing players nearby. Increase to make players catch more often. Decrease to create more dropped passes.
• Catch In Coverage
  • Catch In Coverage controls how well offensive and defensive players catch the ball when there are opposing players nearby. Increase to make players catch more often. Decrease to create more dropped passes.
• Kick Accuracy
  • Kick Accuracy controls the accuracy of punters and kickers. Increase to create more made field goals and punts downed near the endzone. Decrease to create more missed field goals and punts going out of bounds or into the end zone.
• Tackling
  • Tackling controls whether a defender will successfully bring a ball carrier to the ground or whether the tackle will be broken. Increase to have more successful tackles. Decrease to create more broken tackles.
• Run Reaction Time
  • Run Reaction Time controls how long it takes defenders to recognize that a handoff has occurred. Increase to make defenders react faster. Decrease to create a longer delay between handoffs and defender reactions.
• Pass Coverage
  • Pass Coverage controls how well defenders stay with receivers in coverage – both man and zone. Increase to have defenders stay tighter to receivers and better recognize when a receiver enters their zone. Decrease to create more space for receivers.
• Interception
  • Interceptions controls how likely defenders are to attempt an interception rather than a pass breakup. Increase to make defenders more aggressive and more likely to attempt an interception. Decrease to create more attempts at breaking up the pass.

Franchise News Articles

Immersion in video games is a wonderful thing. It makes our actions have more weight and allows us to feel like the simulation we’re playing is more than 0s and 1s inside of a machine. From early on, Franchise Mode in Axis Football has been our focus, and we’ve tried to add features over the years to continue this trend. We want the various aspects of managing and building a team to be engaging, and part of that is doing so in a league that feels alive. To that end, in Axis 2027, we are happy to announce that a new NEWS section will be available in the user’s franchise dashboard. The news section will contain four AI-driven articles that are written in context to the current, past, and future happenings of the user’s league. Was there a major upset last week? Did a player have an extraordinary performance? Is there a key matchup in an upcoming game? Was there a surprise trade or FA acquisition? You can bet there will be an article about it.

The system has dozens and dozens of article categories with a wide variety of content available. Each articles will be updated each week and will features a mix between content related to the user’s team and other teams around the league. It’s a great way to immerse yourself in the happenings of your league!

QB Audio & On Field Chatter

Last year in Axis 26, we overhauled the entire announcer and crowd audio, raising the overall quality in that area to a much better standard. In Axis 27, we are extending that same work to the players on the field. All of the QB audio (cadence, audible, call outs) has been redone, matching the quality and tone of the existing audio presentation. In addition, we have added defensive audio callouts, creating a more immersive experience that is consistent with watching football on TV. After playing a few matches, I can genuinely say that this is a welcome addition that adds a lot of value to the playing and spectating experience.

Graphics & Lighting

As many of you know, I have been creating games for well over two decades, stretching back to my very first game made in 2003. I am rather experienced and feel confident that I can do a wide variety of developmental projects that involve logic, simulation, or AI. However, I have some gigantic holes in my skills, and the longer I work on Axis Football, the more I am aware that my individual skills and time working on the game are experiencing diminishing returns. While there will always be areas of the game that I can improve, I am running out of large areas where I can devote my time and skill to make meaningful improvements. For years, the biggest detractor and sore spot for Axis Football has been the graphics. I’ve tried to make improvements, but they’ve always been marginal and poorly implemented. I knew that – if serious changes were going to be made – we needed outside help. That help came in the form of a new developer that joined our team – @Sailor. I’m fairly certain he’s a genius, and the work he’s done with improving Axis Football’s graphics has been amazing. This past year, Sailor completely rewrote the entire lighting, field, environment, and player uniform graphics code, implementing brand new systems that make the game look better than ever.

Field Editor

With some of Sailor’s changes to the field graphics, it opened the door for us to allow for additional areas of customization. In Axis 27, you’ll now see additional options and an upgraded field editor for you to customize how the field looks!

Other Misc. Features

• Updated the play calling weights for every team and the default play calling weights for user-created teams to better reflect the occurrence and success of deep passes. In Axis 2026, the AI was able to score far too many points in the later stages of the game due to both the frequency and the ease at which it completed deep passes. Likewise, the AI’s ability to convert the kickoff conversion (4th & 12 play) has also been reduced. A special thanks to all of the users who shared their play calling weights to help us find the sweet spot.
• Adjusted the weight that the draft and free agency pool strength setting has on the players generated. In Axis 2026, the feedback was consistent that there wasn’t enough variety in the setting. VERY WEAK wasn’t weak enough, and VERY STRONG wasn’t strong enough. We’ve drastically scaled the bounds in each direction to give you much more control over the strength of the draft and free agency pools.
• Numerous AI tweaks, performance improvements, and many more small upgrades.

Beta Testing & Release

Beta testing for Axis Football 2027 will begin the week of July 6th, 2026 and will be open to all active Patreon supporters (link HERE). As with years past, small features and tweaks will be added during the process, so if a feature you were hoping for didn’t make the list, it still may make the final cut.

As far as a release date, we’re looking to release on Steam in late August, followed shortly by consoles.

As always, we would love to hear from you about this and chat with you about your ideas for the future of Axis Football. Feel free to use any of the links below to get in touch with us.

Discord: https://discord.gg/YFuF9TSZKV
X: https://x.com/axisfootball?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxisGames/

Best,

Danny Jugan
President & Lead Developer, Axis Games