Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[infamyice]

I wouldn't even say there's trouble in the gaming industry because it's Madden by it-self. There's no other Football franchise except EA, and I'm not happy about that, cause I'm a big 2k Football gamer. Granted 2k owned Madden in almost everyway possible, but nobody want to play the same Franchise game year after year without a chance to exile the previous year(s). JMO

[Exonerated]

blame your government lol. for the economy. so ea can blame the government.

If Madden was still 60 and your income went up by 10%, madden sales would be rising.

[TreyIM2]

While the economy DEFINITELY has left an earmark on retail sales, in general, in the case of Madden, if gamers REALLY wanted to get at Madden because word of mouth was that the game was incredible,gamers would have went out and really spent the money on it. Didn't Modern Warfare 2 break all or some types of records, last year? Weren't we STILL in a recession? Were we even moreso in a recession back then, supposedly, at that?? Bottom line is that people HAD TO HAVE Modern Warfare 2, REGARDLESS of the economy because it was deemed to be THAT GOOD to many. Hell, I even bought the damn game and I have NEVER even owned a CoD game, prior, in my life!!! And guess what? I enjoyed the hell out of it, even at just an offline level. I don't do much online and never even played MW2 online, AT ALL.

My suggestion is that EA just stop BSing and pony up a new engine that the series so rightly deserves which is long overdue. It's obvious that continuing to try to make things work with the current engine code is just not going to get the game to the level where it needs to be (aside from toying with last gen DVDs). EA will probably lose the NFL license at this rate once the financial dept realizes what's going on, if they already haven't. Time to share the love of the NFL license and create competition the way it should have been for many years, now. Obviously, without it, in this case, Madden is suffering because Fifa and NHL have reclaimed their crowns because of comp. and it may even happen, sooner or later, with NBA Elite, which I actually expect to happen.

[REDRZA]

I don't buy the economy excuse, or Madden being indicative of the industry being in trouble. Watch how many copies of Halo: REACH sell. They won't have a problem flying off shelves.

Madden gamers are loyal, and purchase every year. After so many years of playing essentially the same game, with minor tweaks and roster updates, many people are tired of the game and want a new experience. EA really needs to build a brand new NFL experience ground up, just an overall better, smarter, more authentic game with realistic physics and player movement/interaction.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by rooney8

So all those (roadman, Only1LT) who needed proof I hope this will satisfy. Madden11 sales are terrible lets continue to celebrate and hope this will change the arcade approach to sim, sim, sim.

Madden started off sluggish last year and with the start of football and the holiday season it picked itself back up and made a small gain over Madden 9 by the time everything was accounted for.

Continue to celebrate less sales if you want to. Business doesn't work that way if one year doesn't sell well, try to do something else the next year.

It's all about budgets and the bottom line. Less sales and revenue this year, less budget next year for franchise mode and everything else that needs improving.

[REDRZA]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Madden started off sluggish last year and with the start of football and the holiday season it picked itself back up and made a small gain over Madden 9 by the time everything was accounted for. Continue to celebrate less sales if you want to. Business doesn't work that way if one year doesn't sell well, try to do something else the next year. It's all about budgets and the bottom line. Less sales and revenue this year, less budget next year for franchise mode and everything else that needs improving.

Road, you know you and i are cool, but no way this is true. First off, EA Tiburon's M.O. about trying "to do something else the next year" has been to tune and tweak the old, stale, crusty "legacy code" they have been using for years, taking minor steps forward and backward in the process.

As for next years budget being less because of this years poor sales. Thats utterly laughable. What about all those years we as Madden fans purchased this game to the tune of record sales, and STILL got the same old code tuned and tweaked the following year? In the good years, the budget wasn't increased.

If they arent selling as many games as they used to, as a business eventually you have to INVEST money to make money. It's been a very long time coming, and many of us have been saying it over and over, this game needs new life. They need to build a better, smarter, deeper, more authentic game ground up.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Madden started off sluggish last year and with the start of football and the holiday season it picked itself back up and made a small gain over Madden 9 by the time everything was accounted for. Continue to celebrate less sales if you want to. Business doesn't work that way if one year doesn't sell well, try to do something else the next year. It's all about budgets and the bottom line. Less sales and revenue this year, less budget next yearfor franchise mode and everything else that needs improving.

That's what I thought when EA signed the exclusive deal a few years back. They spent all that money getting exclusive licenses for ESPN, NCAA, NFL, AFL....they have nothing left to put into development and the game will end up suffering.

They have plenty of money for improving, they just spend it in the wrong places.

[TDKing]

Economy had nothing to do with why I didn't buy it or why my friends haven't bought it, we are older gamers with plenty of cash. My reasons are simple "almost online franchise'" last year and those famous "server side patches". Every time I get tempted to pick it up this year I just think back to last year and how excited I was when they anounced Online Franchise then how disappointed I was when I saw what we really got. one other thing, My son who is 15 has a ton of people on his friends list. Normally most are playing madden around this time but guess what out of 100 friends I saw about 3 playing Madded 11. EA are you really listening to the community??? Guess I'm the one smoking the cigar this year, huh...