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

[Jukeman]

So much for simple being better.

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blue Line

i agree, i don't really think people hate madden that much its just that madden hasn't made long enough strides to please the hardcore madden fans. madden has been around for over 20 years and most of the madden fans have grew up playing madden and are now grown adults...and grown adults won't keep paying $65 for a couple of upgrades every year. IMO the madden consumer has become more responsible and aware of the business aspect that falls into game making and game sales. fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me.....fool me every year, shame on both of us.

Very well said Blue.

As an older gamer myself, ya...I realize Madden is just a video game. But also as an older gamer, my needs from sport video games has evolved through the years. Where now, I need the games to be as believable as possible. Where the game modes function as advertised, and the focus is on solid, again believable game play and deep functioning franchise modes.

No...I don't hate Madden. But I'm now spending my money on the few video sports games I do buy, on other games than Madden. Games that imo, provide me with the things I'm looking for. I think there may be a growing number of gamers, including some of the older guys, starting to realize there are other sports games out there that are just more satisfying than what Madden has to offer.

[steelcurtain311]

I was met with the usual disappointment upon playing Madden this year. Especially since I was playing the Show up until I bought Madden. Then after that, I bought NBA2K. So before and after Madden, I was given glimpses of what sports gaming can be. That made Madden all the more worse.

I've fully given up on the game at this point, I won't buy it again until it's significantly changed. Until they get spacing/contact issues right. I feel almost insulted at this point when I throw 40 yards downfield to have a MLB swat the ball. Or when I have a perfectly open receiver, but by the time the ball gets to him, it's thrown behind and the DB floats 5 yards across the field and swats it away. It simply does not represent football in any way, and there's no real reason as to why it shouldn't.

[Knapper]

For the first time ever I traded in my Madden game before the next one was released. Usually I play it Madden all year long and end up doing multiple franchises. This year I just could not get into the game at all. I never even completed a single season in franchise mode. I tried all sorts of sliders and such but never really found what I was looking for.

There is a few glaring issues that really bugged me. One of the worst is a visual issue when the QB back peddles when I rolling out to his non-throwing side it did not even look like he was touching the ground and forget the physics of it. It looked ridiculous especially on a replay. And of course defense was questionable even with patches and sliders.

One final issue that I have felt over the past few years is there is little to no difference between which teams/players I use. No players feel unique. I can pretty much pick any two teams and overall it feels like playing with any other two teams. Sure the playbooks are more different this year than previous years but still running with Peyton Hillis did not seem any different than running with Joseph Addai or really any other RB in the league.

Ultimately I was trying to force myself to play rather than wanting to play. So I popped in my old game Xbox game from that other developer and while it may not be up to par graphically and some other areas are outdated, it certainly felt like a much better game of football. That was the deciding factor and I took my Madden into Game Stop yesterday. At this point I do not see myself buying Madden 12 and this is the first time I have even considered not buying Madden on release day since I first started playing it way back on the Genesis in 1992.

Even though I always bought Madden, I miss the days of having 3 or 4 NLF games come out each year so I could find the one I liked best each year. Remember way back when there was Madden, NFL 2k, NFL Gameday, NFL Fever, and NFL Quarterback Club. Although really Fever and QB Club were usually not very good at least we had options and it made each of the companies put in more effort each year to grab up as much market share as possible.

[CuseGirl]

Eh, I just stopped buying Madden because it couldn't count stats properly and I hated the draft. The scouting was broken, and if I found a "diamond in the rough" (like a 95 rated guy in the 6th round), he would ask for 1st round money, knowing he was a 6th rounder. Total BS. Also, I got sick of handling contracts. Love NCAA, you recruit them, they play, they leave, you recruit more.

[SA1NT401]

Get rid of Pete Moore and is stupid logic and ZERO knowledge of sports gaming and positive changes and additions will follow. This is NO surprise to me.....Hope the trend continues.

[Skyboxer]

How can you say "That's incredibly bad news."
IMO it's great news for FB gaming fans. At least from one who's been less than impressed with how the franchise has been developed.
Yes Madden has made a couple good steps the last couple years BUT IMO that isn't too hard to do if you look at where Madden was.

Even in the past couple years I still see no signs of real AI. Until there's competition to make multiple developers not take the $ for granted, we'll continue to see games behind where they could be.

My .02

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

How can you say "That's incredibly bad news." IMO it's great news for FB gaming fans. At least from one who's been less than impressed with how the franchise has been developed. Yes Madden has made a couple good steps the last couple years BUT IMO that isn't too hard to do if you look at where Madden was. Even in the past couple years I still see no signs of real AI. Until there's competition to make multiple developers not take the $ for granted, we'll continue to see games behind where they could be. My .02

On this point, your $.02 are worth their weight in gold lol.