Oops! ‘Madden 19’ game says the Chargers still play in San Diego

The Los Angeles Chargers play in San Diego’s Mission Valley, according to one scene in the latest NFL video game from EA Sports.

Michael Cook, a local to San Diego, noticed on Tuesday that an announcer in the “Madden 19” video game — which is set for release this week — made an error in suggesting the Chargers still play in San Diego. He shared a clip of that blunder on Twitter.

“EA Sports coverage of the NFL takes us to the Mission Valley area of beautiful San Diego, California,” the announcer says in the clip of a kickoff in a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Chargers.

EA Sports quickly responded after The San Diego Union-Tribune reached out for comment, calling the reference “a bug” in the game’s commentary and tweeting this in response to the clip.

The “Madden” video game franchise, named after Hall of Famer John Madden, allows players to compete online or against friends over an entire football season just like the real-life NFL. What the game fails to accurately portray is that the Chargers left San Diego in 2017.

The reference to Mission Valley stings particularly hard. It’s the former home of the Chargers, and the source of years of political debate, anger and frustration in San Diego.

After the team left for Los Angeles, city leaders have debated over what should be done with the stadium. And that could be decided in the November election.

So you can understand why locals on Twitter were quick to react to the clip.

Cook said he noticed the error when he was playing Madden 19’s Hall of Fame Edition. He lives in San Diego’s Carmel Valley and was once a Chargers fan himself.

“I was bummed that they moved. I consider myself a die hard, but when they left I cut my ties to the team and basically only root for the (San Diego State University) Aztecs now,” Cook told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

He also shared a second clip — this time of the Chargers playing the Raiders — to prove that it wasn’t just a one-off glitch.

Of course former Chargers fans still angry about the move enjoyed the mistake.

Other reactions ranged from sadness to conspiracy theories.

The error follows another controversy with the “Madden 19” game ahead of its release. In the song “Big Bank,” by rapper YG on the game, a mention of Colin Kaepernick appeared to have been edited out, according to a recording posted on Twitter by Jean Clervil.

EA Sports apologized, calling the it “an unfortunate mistake.”

As for the Chargers issue, EA Sports says the error will be fixed during the week of Aug. 20.