Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by stlstudios189

before I jump in does anyone know what NCAA sales were compared to last year? That game made a huge jump from the year before quality wise. I hosted a Madden tourney this year at my house and most of the players had not purchased the game yet but after the tourney 3 guys went out and bought the game. I think it's been a little poor economy a little past poor quality and a little bit of people waiting to spend the $$. I usually get Madden and Raw vs. Smackdown every year but, this year with $$ tight I will bypass RAW and hope I get it for xmas.

Per vgchartz through 5 weeks:

NCAA 10-ps3 300,011
360-454,643

11-ps3 306,433
360 384,384

Total- 2010 754,654
2011- 690,817

They are down 8%.


Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using Tapatalk.

[knickstorm]

??? i checked amazon, gamestop, walmart, the game's not 50, it's still 60

[Fiasco West]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

All the flimsy correlations between lagging sales and supposed "poor quality" are amusing. Madden 11 and NCAA 11 are among the best, if not THE best, football games ever made by EA (or by anybody). The software industry is down across the board, as are numbers for almost every industry based purely on recreation and discretionary income. This is the worst economy since the Great Depression. So yeah....sales will be down. Believe it or not, the VAST majority of Madden buyers don't hang out on message boards whining about video games all day every day trying to pick it apart. Sorry to rain on the haters' parade, but the down economy is pretty much all it amounts to.

No, it's not all on the Economy either.

COD:MW2 sold more units last year than any game in 2001. Was the Economy so horrible then? The Economy is the reason, yet COD can move units like it does. This was a time when games were 10 bucks cheaper too. IMO that says people are willing to pay for the game, even if a new COD game comes out every year. People are willing to shell out the bucks for it.

So to me, it's not all on the economy. At the same time anyone would be foolish to say the economy has no effect...but I think it's equally foolish to think the gameplay and how there are no major improvements from year to year has nothing to do with it.

I think the Economy has just made people more cautious. Any ways we'll see, Madden hasn't been out long enough to decide...but the user reviews for the game are not good.

[Flamehead]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

This is the worst economy since the Great Depression

Exaggeration. The 1973-75 recession was the worst since the 1960's and the 1980-81 downturn was no picnic either. We are in a recession now, but people are still making purchases that are important enough to them.

Given how the Madden franchise has stagnated and iterations are released tantamount to beta product in August, it's not outside the realm of imagination that some are content to let a Madden release go by regardless.

[avok23]

FIFA has always been EA's flag ship franchise and until it suffers they dont really have a problem.

[inkcil]

Quote: Originally Posted by JerseySuave4

its not the economy, thats just an easy excuse. If the game is worth it, people will find a way to save $60 if they need to. For someone that has a job, $60 is not a lot of money. For kids that can't afford it, $60 might be a lot to the parent that has to pay for the game or the kid saving the game, but i doubt its whats stopping those kids from buying it and if the game was worth buying then the kid can convince his parent to spend $60 on the game. EA didnt bring it once again and people are finally tired of just spending the money on a game thats not worth it. When their biggest advertising point is quicker games, thats not good.

I agree...Bloomberg Business Week summed this up real nice throughout the month of July. They said what I been saying for at least six months:

Malls still packed? Check.

Restaurants still packed? Check.

Concerts still packed? Check.

New I-phone lines still packed? Check.

Sporting events still packed? Check.

Consoles still flying off the shelves? Check.

Madden 11 selling well? Ummmm....

[Flamehead]

Quote: Originally Posted by inkcil

I agree...Bloomberg Business Week summed this up real nice throughout the month of July. They said what I been saying for at least six months: Malls still packed? Check. Restaurants still packed? Check. Concerts still packed? Check. New I-phone lines still packed? Check. Sporting events still packed? Check. Consoles still flying off the shelves? Check. Madden 11 selling well? Ummmm....

Well said Inkcil.

[boritter]

My college roommate and I loved Madden on the PS2. But we have been bummed with the 360 versions and we didn't like the Madden 11 demo. So we decided to stick to NCAA this year.

I'm sure there are thousands of gamers who feel the same way. Madden simply isn't what it used to be.