EA Sports' Season Ticket Hears Crickets on Debut Day (Kotaku)

[Steve_OS]

Kotaku has posted some interesting stats on EA Sports' Season Ticket, in regards to Madden NFL 12.

Quote:

The first day of EA Sports' "Season Ticket" premium subscription, offering a three-day (or more) full preview of Madden NFL 12, does not reflect wide acceptance among the hardcore community it was meant to appeal to. As of 11 p.m. EDT, Madden NFL 12 showed 3,559 users connected to the game through Xbox Live. On PlayStation 3, 1,115 were said to be connected to the EA servers through the game.

[JohnDoe8865]

Wow, this can't be the numbers EA hoped for, although honestly I'm not sure what the internal projections for this were. If Madden doesn't get people to buy the "season ticket", than FIFA, TIGER, etc aren't going to either most likely.

[peter77733]

Okay.....I just spent $25 on this season ticket since im off this weekend and dont want to wait until Tuesday but here's a question....

How do I download the official roster update? I read that I need to be an Xbox Live Gold member. Is this true because if so, this is such crap because I dont play online. Only time im online via Xbox Live is for rosters, demos/trials, dlc and to purchase arcade games.

If true, this sucks as I just wasted $25 for nothing. UGH.

[Jesus]

Fifa is HUGE...but its a bad idea overall IMO

[spit_bubble]

Never really understood the appeal of this. Pay money for three days time with an un-patched game? Why would I want to do that?

[franko3219]

I ended up buying a subscription but not because I couldn't wait to get the game. I purchased the subscription because I would rather pay the $20-something subscription and figure out that the game is not ready or that nothing is improved instead of paying the $60 at release to find out that it is not ready and having it sit on my shelf for nearly 2 months. Madden has not dissapointed me thus far so I will probably buy it come Tuesday, but if it were as buggy as NCAA 12 then I would be waiting a couple of months for the patches and then buying it used so that EA would not get my money. On the flip side if EA produces a good game that is worth paying $60 to me then I will reward EA with my money. I figure that I will get my money worth between Madden, NHL, Tiger Woods, and next years NCAA, since buying each of those used would save me approximately $10 each potentially saving me $40, so I would net gain a savings of approximately $20 and have less frustrations. If all the games are worth 1st day purchases and not used purchases than I am fine paying EA the extra money.

[Sublime12089]

FIFA, if offered worldwide would probably sell more subs than Madden.

[therockstar2005]

Hmm...interesting, though I would think you'd want to wait until the weekend is out before pulling those stats as proof of anything. However, I do think there might be a couple of things to help explain.

1. While I did get it (and am enjoying the game, plus looking forward to enjoying full versions of games I don't usually get, NHL and FIFA especially), only having it for 3 days is kind of a bummer, and I think if EA is counting on anything in this idea, it's the impulsiveness of gamers. I'm not sure that 3 days is really enough time to grasp the "I've gotta have it" drive for some people. I've seen suggestions for a week, and I would think, to get the game a whole week early, might have resulted in more people getting it. I imagine that many well-adjusted adults can say "I can wait three days" and just save their $25.

2. How long ago was it that EA announced this? It hasn't really seemed to get much fanfare. I would imagine that if this had been a big E3 announcement or something, more people would have at least been tempted to sign up. If I heard back in May/June, three months before Madden would launch, that I could get the game early, I would probably be far more likely to sign up than hearing it only a couple of weeks before the game launches.

Just some thoughts.