Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[Herky]

This is the 1st time since 2004 that I didn't get Madden on opening day/night. I haven't even purchased it yet because franchise wasn't touched. Franchise mode has been terrible on current gen since the 1st year and it amazes me that they have not done anything to improve it. I'm going to wait for the patches to comes out, and see where the price is next month before I think about getting it.

IMO this game should have been $39.99 on the first day.

[Goffs]

does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

[bulls23]

Quote: Originally Posted by FBeaule04

Wait wait wait! It took a real low in the NHL series a few years ago and a strong push from NHL2K on the market for EA to come with innovations and the EASHL to make NHL2k irrelevant to the hockey gamers. Since the market limits aren't yet reach, EA is still working really hard to get the best hockey game and get customers to buy the game. They are pushing harder this year and I guess that NHL 12 will also be a gem. I don't think that EA NHL and NFL games are in the same boat at all. Madden cannot have a push in the back other than a drop in sales, and until further evidence, there's nothing so far saying it's the case.

True, just look at how much NBA Elite is trying to improve with the juggernaut of NBA 2k.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrnoobie

does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

I've given up on hoping that anyone else will ever make an NFL game...some beancounters over at EA have probably crunched the numbers and realized that, barring a huge increase in asking price from the NFL (unlikely as they are headed for an almost certain work stoppage in a year), it's cheaper to keep freezing out the competition with dollars than to save on exclusivity (although they'd still have to pay for the license) and try to make up the difference in increased sales (unlikely; that curve has basically plateaued). The issue at hand is that this isn't about football to EA or any game company - we're the only ones that care about that stuff. Madden is no different than a microwave or an iPod to the people that run the company. It's a product that they will maximize for profit, frequently by minimizing production resources until it starts tangibly affecting sales. I doubt we're there yet...

I also doubt that come year's end, Madden 11 will have had a serious drop-off from Madden 10. Maybe early sales are off, but in 4-5 months time I'm sure the sales will end up being equivalent. Anyway, it's way too early to read into anything after 1-2 weeks of data.

[budsticky]

Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

[mrprice33]

First week numbers...

Madden 10 360-575,624
Madden 10 PS3-363,256
Total-938,880

Madden 11 360-542,803
Madden 11 PS3-445,648
Total-988,451

They're up about 23% on ps3, down about 6% on 360, up about 5% overall.

Good research on that article.

[Herky]

Quote: Originally Posted by budsticky

Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

I don't have a problem with patches if they fix issues. I do have a problem with not even touching certain aspects of the game. Madden back in the day used to come out in November and people still played and loved it.

[Crimsontide27]

There is a lot of truth here in this thread, but the economy being to blame is certainly not one of them. I can justify a video game purchase that will keep us entertained for many months, over something like taking the wife and kids to the movies once and that lasts 3 hrs.

I have been playing sports games since they came out and I do remember the excitement building every year around release time in anticipation to what new things our sports titles were going to bring to the table.

Somewhere between 05-06 that began to change.

Now Madden releases and you have to wait months for them to fix issues that have been known to exsist for years. The substitution bug in this years title...was a problem in last years title...which was also a problem in the year before thats problem...ad nausem.

People are just fed up, its nothing complicated. Madden is a poor product, its pretty simple.

I cant think of any sports franchise that I worry about whats going to be broken next year, other than Madden and NCAA. All the other sports games are coming along fine, but for whatever reason, EAs football has regressed.

Before all the EA supporter nazis jump down my throat for being a *****, there are a plethora of good titles that EA makes and I enjoy them immensely, Madden...is not one of them.