Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y in October

[raneman85]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

I think EA will misinterpret this data. Sales are down because of the oversimplified high offense approach, and lack of realism...not because it's too complicated.

Bingo Exactly why sales are down.

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senator Palmer

I know the article is for October, but I thought the "year over year" was the key phrase that meant sales over the calendar year from October 2009 to October 2010. But you might be right... which would add a whole other level of entertainment to this thread!

Year over year means compared to the same time period in the previous year. It can be daily, quarterly or yearly. In this case it's just referring to the month of October.
I am as disappointed as you.

[grismosw]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrngDaRckus

Madden needs a new engine.

It took them this long to get where they are today, you honestly think a new engine is the answer?

[rooney8]

Quote: Originally Posted by grismosw

It took them this long to get where they are today, you honestly think a new engine is the answer?

But that engine was built to make a completely arcade game which makes things so difficult.

[grismosw]

Quote: Originally Posted by rooney8

But that engine was built to make a completely arcade game which makes things so difficult.

I still think the mistake they made was starting from scratch when they went to current generation. The Show, NBA 2K, and College Hoops 2K meanwhile built off what they had already started and were light years ahead of EA. EA can't even catch up with what they already had in last generation. Outside of NHL all of their sports series are in the dumps, I think NCAA Football this year is decent but you can't get too deep into Dynasty Mode without all sorts of flaws.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Madden's problem and every game problem for the most part is that they care way too much about the online features of the game and completely shafts the offline players. I mean who cares if you can have online leagues and roster share if the core of your game isn't up to snuff ?

You can but a Porche grill and logo on an ford escort and call it a Porche but it is still a ford escort. And that is the problem with Madden now. Sure they slap on Madden and NFL logos, got Dree Brees on the cover, but the core isn't right.

For the past 10 years I have seen Madden add more and more fluff to their game. From Madden cards to Madden Moments, that is all FLUFF.

They need to get the basics done right 1st. And stop with the clever marketing phrases. Calling Madden simple and faster......Sure it is faster when you elminate 1/4 of the playbooks that was in last years game.

The whole AI is just totally out of whack. From mobile QBs not scrambling in any of the EA football games, which is Madden and NCAA, to the cpu punting the ball out of bounds majority of the time, to bad clock management, teams not going for fake punts or fake FGs.

Hell I have never seen the CPU ever block a punt in a Madden or NCAA football game, EVER. I mean what is the point of having all out block or max protect or regular protect if they still don't come close to blocking your punt ???

I mean we talking simple logic here. If player A is regular punt formation, player B is in All out Block formation, shouldn't the CPU player B block the punt most of the time in that situation ????

Same thing with mobile QBs.......simple logic......if you a mobile QB and you see a WIDE OPEN LANE TO RUN, wouldn't they take off in real life to exploit that WIDE OPEN LANE ?

I mean whats the point of having a throwing on the run rating if the CPU QB don't run ? I mean don't you have to run in order to throw on the run ?

Why is it in 2010 we still can't assign blocking assignments in football games ? I mean hell in basketball games we can assign double team assignments. So why can't we tell our linemen to double team block the defense's best pass rusher ?

Why can't we have real good pre-game, halftime and post game show ? OR, more importantly why can't we have a dynamic commentary ????

You know when they talk about stuff going in game, what happened last game, what happened in the 1st quarter, 1st half type of stuff. And not some canned lines that talks about stuff that isn't really relevant to what is going on in the current game.

People want realism. They want dirty uniforms, live interactive sidelines that react to what is happening on the field and to the score of the game. They want the field to get tore up come second half. What happened to line shifts that use to be in Madden years ago ? Where you could shift the formation and all that ?

New engine not going to cut it.....they need a new director, new president of their sports division or something. Everything comes from the top like in any company.

So I can't see how they can honestly say hey I watch football every saturday and sunday and then make NCAA and Madden and say with a straight face that is actual football, what you see on Saturday and Sunday.

And who ever is in charge of their beta testing needs to be replaced too, because really it is the quality control team job to ensure the game plays like the real thing. And over the years I am seeing way too many flaws getting passed them and making it to the retail version.

Then when people buy the game they want to say oh yeah we are aware of the problem we will release a patch for it.

This generation of videogames, the word PATCH has become a cop out and excuse for not doing your job. They need to call this generation of videogames the Patch Generation, because way too many games come out needing MULTIPLE PATCHES.

Makes no sense.

[dcsoldier]

in reality it really doesn't matter because the sales are down period......recently the EA CEO came out and said during a stockholders conference hearing that he is unhappy with madden's performance and that sale's are way below expected. in 09 madden sales were down tremendously from 08 and to even compare this year's sales to last year is very disappointing. like everyone is saying, if madden doesn't start winning its hardcore fans back (that go and buy the game every year and stand in line on midnight release) then it will be less than 5 years before the game is no longer in production ex. nba elite. when 2k makes a football game it will be good bye charlie for madden.

[The Amaizen Blue]

I personally think it was because NCAA 11 was just THAT good. I know a lot of people don't buy BOTH Madden AND NCAA so when people hear "NCAA is better this year" they'll only go for that.