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MVP
OVR: 21
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Charlotte, NC
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I don't claim to be a marketing expert (although I am taking a marketing course this semester), but here's my take on things from a marketing perspective:
A lot of people bring up the fact that hardcore gamers make such a small percentage of the market; which may be true. They usually point to the fact that Madden outsold Backbreaker despite perceptions that Backbreaker may be a better product on the field. Here's the reason behind that: Backbreaker and Madden are at two different stages of the product life cycle.
The product life cycle works like this (and again, I'm not a marketing expert or major, just rehashing what I learned in class this semester):
- The first stage is the introduction stage. This is where a new product enters the market. This is the stage where Backbreaker currently is. Sales during the stage are almost always initially low (although the iPod and iPhone did buck this trend). The consumers who primarily buy a product at this stage are the innovators and early adopters - they are essentially taking a chance on the product in the hopes of finding a gem. There is generally more perceived risk involved from the consumer's perspective, and therefore, they will go with a product their familiar with over one they aren't familiar with (hence a gamer would buy Madden over Backbreaker because he's more familiar with it)
- The next stage is the growth stage. This is where Backbreaker is trying to get to next. As word of mouth from the early adopters and innovators who already bought the the product spreads, sales will start to grow, and hopefully, publicity will start to grow along with it. This could take some time (meaning years) depending on the product, but fortunately for Backbreaker (and any other generic football game that decides to enter the market), competition is low right now (read: non-existent), and the barriers for entry are low right now too as a result. Had this been 5 years ago when you had several NFL and NCAA licensed football games on the market, a generic game would have failed before ever reaching this stage. This is not the time for Backbreaker to bail just yet. They (and other companies) have to give the market sometime, especially now.
- The next stage is the maturity stage. This is pretty much the apex of the product life cycle. This is the stage where a product enjoys the luxuries of brand recognition, high sales, brand loyalty, word of mouth, publicity; all of the positives (and negatives) that come with having a widely recognizable product. This is the stage where Madden is currently, hence the reason it will continue to outsell any other football game that enters the market at this point. When 2K dropped NFL 2K5 for $20, this was a significant blow to the Madden brand and it's market share, causing EA to strike the deal that's currently in place. But as we all witnessed over time, no other football product - licensed or otherwise - has been able to take over Madden's market share. Like I said before, 2K came the closest, but they were later shut out of the market. Smart business move on EA's part (at the time), but it ultimately hurts the consumer. Which brings me to the next stage...
- The final stage is the decline stage. This is the point of the product life cycle when sales of a product start to fall, almost to the point where sales cannot recover from where they were before. Some would argue that Madden is at this stage, or at least, about to go into this stage. Consumers lose interest; there's too much competition; another alternative comes to market; there's a variety of reasons for a product to hit the decline stage. Either way, it's the most dreaded part of the product life cycle and is a foreshadow of an eventual exit from the market. Think NCAA Gamebreaker, NFL Gameday, EA's Nascar series, 2K's NHL series, Acclaim's All Star Baseball series (which was a good series IMO, it just couldn't compete with the MLB, World Series Baseball, and MVP Baseball series), High Heat Baseball series (same fate as the All Star Baseball series)
So if Backbreaker is wise, it will stay the course a la President Bush (LOL). If 2K was wise, it would have never abandoned its All Pro Football series so soon. You have to give the market time. Companies too many times expect to hit a homerun at their first at bat (had to throw in a baseball reference since this is an article about baseball), and bail on products too quickly.
Products enter the market to serve a need; plain and simple. As gamers, we have a need: we want the most authentic representation of our respective sports possible. This same need existed 20 years ago. Remember, Madden got its start as a generic football title, and look where it is now. During that time, people didn't necessarily care that a game was licensed; that was just icing on the cake. Of course, over time licensing became a must have, but I would argue that right now the market is back to where it was before: An authentic sporting experience > licensed game
Right now, Backbreaker is changing the way we play video games. To me, that's bigger than a license at this point, because they are changing a formula that has grown stale over the past 20 years. That's call innovation. As long as they continue to work on their product and make refinements, than may start to make a dent into EA's football market share.
When consumers tire of a product, they look for alternatives (otherwise known as elasticity of demand). From EA and 2K's perspective, when they inked their exclusivity deals with the respective leagues, they were counting on inelastic demand, meaning no (viable) alternatives in the market exist and consumers would have no choice but to choose their product. Unfortunately for 2K, they didn't forsee SCEA putting out a stronger product on the PS3 market, virtually making their game non-existent to half of the baseball gaming market. And for EA, they banked on the popularity of the NFL so much, they didn't forsee consumers growing tired of their product in the long haul. 2k tried to capitalize on this opportunity by releasing All Pro Football, but marketed it poorly (poor choice of release date, poor pricing strategy) and bailed too quickly on it in my opinion.
Last edited by Mos1ted; 12-03-2010 at 09:26 AM.
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12-03-2010, 07:37 AM
