Madden Sales Down Significantly This Year

[cepwin]

I've actually been enjoying the game despite it's imperfections. However I strongly agree with buckeyedawgtribe that it would be great if 2K got back in the game. Their NBA games have been very well received and look amazing so I'd love to see what they would do if the NFL ended this "exclusivity" and allowed the other companies to license and create NFL games. 2K has the background to do this. It would also push the Madden team to do better as they have to make a game at least as good or better than what 2K comes up with.

As for the down sales, I do think it's a combination of mixed reviews and waiting to get the next gen version.

Quote: Originally Posted by buckeyedawgtribe

Would love to see 2K get back in the game. Madden 25 could be a good game if I didnt feel so underpowered on defense. Presentation is still bad. Owner mode is addicting. I just hope they dont give up on this game and not release some patches to fix the issues. I have no plans to get a next gen system until the spring and by then I wont be playing Madden.

[252Life]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

What are you being exactly because anyone paying attention to next gen would gladly take you up on that. Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

I hope i'm wrong but I won't get my hopes up.

Quote: Originally Posted by Iceman87GT

They learned from their mistakes on the current gen in this department. It won't be bare-bones, doesn't mean the game will be good but it will at least be full-featured. Cost a lot of money to get all that stuff together, its gonna have to be a 2 year process, I think 2K will make a run at it but the lawsuit (putting an end to exclusive licensing for EA) was settled last year and the fact that they haven't started the process now means it won't be any time soon. Also 989 Sports hasn't made game since 2006, it was absorbed into SCEA San Diego, there's no way they take focus away from the Show to start what could be a failure. What amazes me is how many people are automatically attributing this to consumers finally having enough with the product... Really? They've been buying it for years, regardless of quality (and fyi the general public doesn't have as many negative things to say about various sports franchises as the visitors to this site do,), and now that sales are down with the Next Generation of consoles set to debut in 2 months and 13 days your gonna ignore that fact and come to the conclusion that they are finally going to come to their sense? Sales are down because of the Next Gen anticipation, that's a fact. The only question is how much of that is purely because they are waiting for Next Gen and how much is because they heard bad things about the game and aren't bothering with the current gen in the meantime. Yes there are some who have sworn off the series entirely, but they are the minority. 650,000 people haven't quit the series, there are a lot of reasons to look forward to Madden on the Next Gen and this is influencing people's purchase decision. And its important to note that 1M in the first week is still extremely good, just down from recent years, this isn't going to hurt EA's bottom-line and it is easily explainable to shareholders that its due to the Next Gen. You're fooling yourselves if you think this is going to hurt EA, cause the NFL to pull their rights (no one is there to take over, and its no longer legal to grab exclusive rights, the NFL would literally be losing a video game deal for the year if they "rethought their partnership with EA). EA is going to keep making Madden, hopefully someone will step in and create some competition, because even if M25 on the XB1 and PS4 is everything we have been hoping for, it is always better for their to be great incentive to improve upon the last iteration. Without competition things become stagnant, even if they are working to bring you the best game possible (see MLB the Show, still a fantastic game but its review scores are dropping by the year, its hard to improve on perfection, especially when their is no legitimate competition trying to one-up your perfect game).

Agree with everything. 989 sports was a joke by the way.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by MuchToLearn

all i can say to anyone wishing/hoping/praying that ps4/next-gen madden 25 will be better than this madden 25 is.. the hell are you on?! it's almost guaranteed to be the same game with a bit better gfx.. we all remember the debacle of 360/ps3 first edition maddens when they ditched their old sim roots and went strictly arcadeish it'll be like that first-edition games for new consoles generally speaking aren't that good

And they've been working on it for a few years, too. You don't think they recall 06?

[BigJT1083]

Keep it up and don't buy into the hype that it will be better on next-gen, we know that is NOT true! Want EA Sports to actually listen to you? Hurt them in the only area they care about, sales. I've been getting my football fix by playing NCAA 06 and Madden 06 in the last few weeks and it is crazy how much more fun I have with it than I ever had with any of the 360 versions. The graphics are no where near as good, but you can actually play a working game and immerse yourself in the dynasty/franchise and race for the heisman/superstar modes. Much rather pay $60 to play these old gems again than waste my money on the new crap they try to sell us (which most of it was already used at some point).

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by kjcheezhead

Not surprised. A few reasons for it... 1. The game isn't great. In many ways, particularly the defense, the game went backwards from 13 which itself was a buggy mess introducing IE and CCM. 2. Next gen is coming and people want a different experience after only playing current gen madden for several years now. 3. The exclusive license is still set to end after this year, people wanting it to end have more insentive to skip this year. 4. A lot of reviews have been scoring the game low. Gamespot gave it a six. 5. GTA V. Personally, I love the timing. With the exclusive agreement set to expire, EA is settling and paying out $11 million to Robin Antonick and $27 million to gamers from the class action suit. The game already costs them $2 million to John Madden and $50 million to the NFL. Not to mention the Obannon, NCAA situation. Maybe, just maybe there is hope for new NFL video games in the future. Source and interesting read: http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/tech...source=cnn_bin

One other factor that occurred to me. There is a fair number of madden fans that buy the game in 2 year cycles. With 13 introducing physics I think a lot of these guys made a purchase in a year they usually don't.

It sort makes sense when you look at both games sales. Madden 13 had a big spike in sales compared to every other version this gen. Maybe things just balanced out this year.

At any rate, there are several potential reasons for a decline in sales, and none I can think of for EA to have expected increased sales. I know quality was the main reason for me personally tho.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrikan

Would love to see a next gen version of this

Why? That game was an AWFUL representation of football, which actually got worse with a patch.

I'd love to see more and better games of football on the market, but Backbreaker was certainly not an example of one. It was a ridiculously bad game, that couldn't get the most basic of football principles down. Nothing more than an over the top tech demo.

[bkrich83]

My biggest fear with a decline in Madden sales is that EA makes the game even more accesible to casual fans, and cater to the lowest common denominator.

I think the unfortunate reality is a large majority of Madden gamers don't want an exact replication of the NFL. I think we even see that here. We see people who clamor for more sim and more "realism" and on the odd occasions EA delivers that realism, those people still complain.

[JerseySuave4]

I haven't thought Madden was any good for the last few years but playing the demo a few times I don't think this years game is that bad. However, i'm not spending money and putting in time on Madden on the current systems when i'll be getting it for the PS4. I don't care what incentive programs they have it's a waste of money to do that.