Madden NFL 11 News Post

EA Sports Plans To Digitize Madden 11 Consumer (IGN)

09:17 PM - March 1, 2010 by bang911

Madden NFL 11 fans should expect to purchase digital content this season, according to this write up from IGN.

Quote:


	""I think we need to move much quicker, in particular with Madden, through a digital world," Moore stated. "You're going to see more announcements there how we digitize our Madden consumer. It keeps the disc in the drive longer, it stalls trading the game in, it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," he said. "Even if we do get second sales, we see that as an opportunity to drive digital margins." "Sports games, because their seasonality runs out, are always something tempting to trade in. We've got to be able to build business models around allowing that consumer to trade it in and then monetize them," he added "We're certainly going to do a lot of that this year."

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Member Comments

# 81 CreatineKasey @ 03/03/10 12:27 PM

If they sell M10 for $30 electronically I'd be okay with that. Unfortunately I don't have much HD space so I couldn't get a lot of games this way.

# 82 Valdarez @ 03/03/10 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheelman990


	If I understand this article, they are wanting to make Madden a download only option. The only thing I see that doing is taking away our trade in credit, and making everyone pay $60 for the game, as long as EA decides to charge it. Make it a $20 download, and Im all for it. Anything over $30 for a download Madden, NO WAY!

I have collected games since the original Pong game. Personally, I want a game I own, not digital content. I want something I can hold and own.

# 83 Perfect Zero @ 03/03/10 12:40 PM

If everybody would look toward NCAA Football last year, the teambuilder feature was partial a ruse to stop people from trading in the game. You got the code if you bought the game new, but you had to pay for it if it was used. EA has been "taking advantage of that consumer" for many years, and with the advent of DLC, it's going to be $60 to buy the physical game, and much more to play it with features.

In a way, I can't blame them. Putting out an inferior product for so long makes it to where they have to overcharge for common features does help the bottom line. This is in contrast to SCEA which has put a lot into their baseball program year after year and people still flock to it.

# 84 Valdarez @ 03/03/10 12:43 PM

They spend WAY too much money marketing Madden. It's the ONLY NFL game out there. You don't need to spend $$$ marketing it. Take that money and put it back into the game. Their business strategy is flawed from top to bottom, and Peter Moore is only making it worse.

# 85 tktnuri @ 03/03/10 04:24 PM

I have no problem with paying for downloadable content as long as I can reload it if something were to happen to my hard drive and the store markup isn't there. $30 I am okay paying $5-20 extra for additional content is okay as well. But having to pay $60 when there is no brick and mortar mark up is hard to justify.

I rather pay $60 and be able to load the game to HDD and never use the disc then pay $60 for download only.

# 86 KBLover @ 03/03/10 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REDRZA


	I could care less about bi corporate places like gamestop RAPING people on used games.

I could care less about them.

I DO care about being able to re-sell the game on say Amazon or E-Bay when I'm tired of it.

I get something out of it and help some other gamer get a game they wanted at a lesser price (or at all in some cases).

# 87 splff3000 @ 03/03/10 06:21 PM

You guys don't seriously think that Madden will become a download only game this generation do you? Do you know how much money EA would lose by doing that? There are people with 360's that have no hard drive and some with only a 20gb hard drive. Those people without hard drives would not be able to download the game and those with the 20gb hard drive would probably choose not to since it would probably fill 1/3 to 1/2 of their hard drive. Not to mention the people that don't even have internet, believe me there's more than you think. That's a lot of sales loss. Now there may come a day where EA offers a digital download of Madden as an alternative to buying an actual disc, but I seriously doubt that it will ever become a download only deal in this generation of consoles.

# 88 kjcheezhead @ 03/03/10 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	You guys don't seriously think that Madden will become a download only game this generation do you? Do you know how much money EA would lose by doing that? There are people with 360's that have no hard drive and some with only a 20gb hard drive. Those people without hard drives would not be able to download the game and those with the 20gb hard drive would probably choose not to since it would probably fill 1/3 to 1/2 of their hard drive. Not to mention the people that don't even have internet, believe me there's more than you think. That's a lot of sales loss. Now there may come a day where EA offers a digital download of Madden as an alternative to buying an actual disc, but I seriously doubt that it will ever become a download only deal in this generation of consoles.

Think about how many sales Madden is losing now to gamestop trade-ins. Weigh the loss of 360 owners who wouldn't upgrade there systems to be able to download vs the sales losses they are losing on all their games right now. Going digital probably would make them more profitable.

# 89 econoodle @ 03/04/10 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mva5580


	Anyone who willingly gives EA Sports their money after that article has serious problems.

I LOL'd

# 90 roadman @ 03/04/10 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tick32


	Here's a video Ryanmoody made about this article. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wyUN869Yxo

9 minutes on one comment.

No thank you.

I already don't appreciate the comment and how it was used. I don't need to listen to 9 minutes of someone that agrees with me.

Just my opinion.

# 91 Valdarez @ 03/04/10 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	Think about how many sales Madden is losing now to gamestop trade-ins. Weigh the loss of 360 owners who wouldn't upgrade there systems to be able to download vs the sales losses they are losing on all their games right now. Going digital probably would make them more profitable.

Very few. Most folks that buy the game used would not be willing to buy the game brand new.

Instead of worrying about used sales and trying to penalize the used / aftermarket, EA should focus on the quality of the game. The aftermarket, is AFTER the game is no longer a viable new buy.

# 92 Valdarez @ 03/04/10 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KBLover


	I could care less about them. I DO care about being able to re-sell the game on say Amazon or E-Bay when I'm tired of it. I get something out of it and help some other gamer get a game they wanted at a lesser price (or at all in some cases).

Exactly. It's YOUR game, not EA's at that point. Something EA Sports just doesn't get. They view it as THEIR game, even after you shell out $60 for it.

# 93 Rashad19 @ 03/04/10 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	Very few. Most folks that buy the game used would not be willing to buy the game brand new. Instead of worrying about used sales and trying to penalize the used / aftermarket, EA should focus on the quality of the game. The aftermarket, is AFTER the game is no longer a viable new buy.

Great point Valdarez! I do not hear about people running to Gamestop or Ebay to trade in or sell MLB The Show or CODMW 2. EA's piece meal approach to business simply irks me.

TheWatcher wrote a great post the other day explaining how the different teams of madden pretty much work exclusively of one another and it got me to thinking. I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus here but other than the art department Madden is the same game I played on my PS2.

Gameplay is the same, the plays are the same, franchise basically the same, presentation is a little better. This is why we question what have these guys been doing other than tweaking the game here or there the last 5 years. No major innovation has taken place. EA needs to focus on making a great game and sales will take care of themselves.

# 94 Valdarez @ 03/04/10 11:14 AM

This really hearkens back to the NFL Exclusitivy deal and whether or not they have a monopoly control of the football market. To me, this smacks of a Monoply's ability to employ Price Discrimination.

A seller of a product in a competitive industry (i.e., one characterized by many competing sellers of a good or service) generally can only charge a single price (i.e., the price that its competitors are charging) to all of its customers. However, monopolists not only have the ability to charge a higher price than would competitive firms supplying the same product, but they also have the ability to charge significantly different prices to different customers for the same product.

Monopolists are invariably well aware both of this ability and of the fact that by taking advantage of it they can often gain much greater profits than they could by just charging a single price to all customers. That is, a monopolist can maximize its profits by charging a separate profit-maximizing price for each type or group of customers (those that buy new, purchase electronically new, or buy the game used) rather than by charging one profit maximizing price to all customers taken as a whole, because of the differences that generally exist among the different types or groups of customers with respect to their ability and willingness to pay. This behavior is termed price discrimination.

EA sports monopoly hold on the NFL football market enables their ability to engage successfully in price discrimination.

# 95 kjcheezhead @ 03/04/10 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	Very few. Most folks that buy the game used would not be willing to buy the game brand new. Instead of worrying about used sales and trying to penalize the used / aftermarket, EA should focus on the quality of the game. The aftermarket, is AFTER the game is no longer a viable new buy.

I'm not sold on that. I agree this is very close to a monopoly. If the only way you could get an NFL video game was to buy it new as a download, plenty of consumers would simply do this.

I agree EA needs to focus on their products, but why should they? Promise enough to get the purchase, take away the ability to trade-in when people find out the product doesn't work and collect your money.

On another similiar note, what if patches become DLC? People who hated Madden 10 (me) held onto the game to December for the patch. What if with Madden 11 they delay releasing the patches on purpose to prevent trade-ins on the discs? Or promise 3rd or 4th patches for $5 bucks a pop. Wouldn't that also be a way they could further take advantage of us without forcing us to download the game just yet?

# 96 OrangeCrush @ 03/04/10 04:36 PM

I'm more mad at the NFL than I am at EA. This exclusive deal is the biggest slap in the face to NFL video games fans ever.

But Peter Moore is a good businessman, he knows much extra money he will make by doing this as the core base of Madden fans are like Pantherbeast, willing to support EA no matter what, so I give Moore mad credit as a capitalist, that is exactly the type of person EA Sports wants as their president.

# 97 Joborule @ 03/04/10 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killgod


	I was told directly (in private, so sorry man) from someone who went to community day for Madden 10 that Ian and Co wanted to release Online Franchise after release date as DLC so they could complete the feature. The suits said no, this is our back of the box feature and release it as is. I'll let the man who told me this choose whether or not he wants to confirm, if not take it as random forum BS then.

Sorry that this is completely out of context in where discussion is currently, but I had to respond to this since I went to the said event.

We didn't even get to know about Online Franchise until you guys did since that feature was held back from us knowing then. Ian and Phil said they couldn't talk about online features yet and will announce them around E3 time. So I'm interested how you got this quote since it's more then likely false.

# 98 splff3000 @ 03/05/10 07:44 AM

Wow!! This thread is full of firsts for me. This is the first time I've disagreed with KJcheezhead. Having said that.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	Think about how many sales Madden is losing now to gamestop trade-ins. Weigh the loss of 360 owners who wouldn't upgrade there systems to be able to download vs the sales losses they are losing on all their games right now. Going digital probably would make them more profitable.

Most years, I would agree with this, but 10 was not traded in as much as the previous versions of the game (probably because it was HALF decent). Do I have a chart to tell me this? nope. I did, however, drive to 3 different gamestops in my area looking for it used months after I traded it in and couldn't find it. One gamestop employee said they don't get too many in and when they do, they go pretty fast. Now that may be that particular gamestop, I don't know, but I do know I had a devil of a time trying to find a used copy. Luckily I found someone selling it on craigslist for the cheap. To assume that people would just upgrade their systems to play Madden is a false assumption, especially after the rep it has gotten the last few years as just a roster update to a bad game. I don't think most people would be willing to upgrade their system just for Madden. They'd probably just not play it. Now if other FULL games started being "digital download only" then they may do it, but most people I know wouldn't do it. Hell, most people I know wouldn't buy madden at all if they couldn't get it on EBAY or buy it used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	I'm not sold on that. I agree this is very close to a monopoly. If the only way you could get an NFL video game was to buy it new as a download, plenty of consumers would simply do this. I agree EA needs to focus on their products, but why should they? Promise enough to get the purchase, take away the ability to trade-in when people find out the product doesn't work and collect your money. On another similiar note, what if patches become DLC? People who hated Madden 10 (me) held onto the game to December for the patch. What if with Madden 11 they delay releasing the patches on purpose to prevent trade-ins on the discs? Or promise 3rd or 4th patches for $5 bucks a pop. Wouldn't that also be a way they could further take advantage of us without forcing us to download the game just yet?

I am in no way an EA apologists(look at my previous posts lol), but we can't get into what ifs. What if I had a million bucks? I wouldn't be concerned with EA trying to take advantage of consumers. Let's kep the what ifs out. Having said that, I highly doubt you would ever have to pay for patches since they "fix" things that are broken in the game. That would be like me selling you a toyota and then charging you to fix the accelerator that gets stuck. I don't think that would ever happen.

# 99 Valdarez @ 03/05/10 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	Most years, I would agree with this, but 10 was not traded in as much as the previous versions of the game (probably because it was HALF decent). Do I have a chart to tell me this? nope. I did, however, drive to 3 different gamestops in my area looking for it used months after I traded it in and couldn't find it. One gamestop employee said they don't get too many in and when they do, they go pretty fast.

I agree with you on this one. I have bought Madden used since 2005 and the NFL Exclusivity deal. I typically buy NCAA when Madden is released for $25 off eBay, and then wait roughly 4 week and pay $25 for Madden. This time I waited 2 to 4 weeks (sorry don't know exactly) after Madden was released and still had to pay $35 for NCAA, and I waited until mid-October to buy Madden and had to pay $35 for Madden. Used game prices in general are up, but IMHO this is a sign of the economic times, where folks are trying to save money because it's true across the board for used games, not just Madden. If you need proof, GameStop's had one of their biggest years last year, and that's not due to GameStop's 'quality' service or prices, I'm sure many here have had negative GameStop experiences to one level or another (typically with preOrders).

As for the person's comment on Peter Moore being an excellent capitalist. Peter Moore is the perfect example of an exec who cares nothing for his customer base. He showed that at Microsoft, and he's continued the trend at EA Sports. He'll make the company money, but screw over the gamers in the process. EA Sports image was tainted by the NFL Exclusivity deal and continues to be tarnished with Peter Moore at the helm.

# 100 kjcheezhead @ 03/05/10 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splff3000


	Wow!! This thread is full of firsts for me. This is the first time I've disagreed with KJcheezhead. Having said that..... I am in no way an EA apologists(look at my previous posts lol), but we can't get into what ifs. What if I had a million bucks? I wouldn't be concerned with EA trying to take advantage of consumers. Let's kep the what ifs out. Having said that, I highly doubt you would ever have to pay for patches since they "fix" things that are broken in the game. That would be like me selling you a toyota and then charging you to fix the accelerator that gets stuck. I don't think that would ever happen.

Lol, nice to know someone agrees with me most of the time. My wife would probably advise against it tho.

I guess I said "what if" because how do you prove a company is doing that? It took til when, December for patch #2? I know I held off on trading it in on the hopes that patch might save the game for me. It was half decent like you said. Still bothers me to think they would have a patch ready and hold onto it for a month like an ace in the hole and I can see them charging for 3rd or 4th patches. They just wouldn't be called patches anymore, they'd be "upgrades".

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