Madden NFL 11 News Post

Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

01:22 PM - August 20, 2010 by RaychelSnr

CNBC has the story on Madden's weak sales numbers and it's impact on the industry as a whole. Sounds like a blog coming from yours truly soon.

Quote:


	Just one week after its flagship franchise hit the streets, EA is already seeing retailers dramatically discount this year�s installment of �Madden NFL�. Amazon, Wal Mart, and GameStop have all dropped the price from $60 to $50. One possible way to interpret that is the 2010 version of the game hasn�t been selling at the same pace as the 2009 version (which, incidentally, failed to match the 2008 numbers). That�s troubling, since EA relies heavily on Madden for up to 10 percent of its annual revenues. Admittedly, there were concerns about this year�s game prior to its launch. Pre-orders were flat and Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, noted that the 2010 installment was �a �show-me� story � People who are tired of what �Madden� has become are saying �I know some of my fiends are going to pick it up and I�ll see what they have to say first.'�

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Member Comments

# 101 Vikes1 @ 08/21/10 02:53 AM

I think it was last year that some "Expert" claimed that possibly the reason for Madden's fairly disappointing early sales were do to "Buyers fatigue". At the time...and maybe now too, it maybe makes sense.

Just kinda winging it here but...maybe for many gamers, Madden has become just good old Madden. Maybe that's where the buyers fatigue comes in. Could be that many gamers are just now looking for something different...and well, new to them.

Again just throwing stuff out there... You still see many Madden gamers still hoping that the game can return to it's former glory. Six years into the current consoles. To my knowledge, I know of no other current PS3/360 game that people are hoping for that. Seem kinda telling that when six years later, many are still looking backward? While other games, including sports games from EA, are being applauded for their current gen efforts, by moving forward...not backward. Seems to me anyway, the reason for possibly stagnant Madden sales could be found in that somewhere.

# 102 raz77 @ 08/21/10 03:00 AM

I don't see it as trouble for the industry. Your Red dead redemptions, your just cause 2s, your uncharted 2s, in other words your games that are actually good will continue to sell well.

# 103 OpusX910 @ 08/21/10 03:13 AM

I dont think the economy has anything at all to do with this.....$60 is not much at all, especially if you only buy a game or two a year. This has to do with the game being very stale and buyers getting sick of it. I decided to buy Madden this year and put it on eBay the same day I bought it. First time i've bought Madden in like 5 years and its almost identical to the last Madden I bought, how does a game not progress at all in that time span?

If any sports franchise wants to do well, all they have to do is look at what NHL or MLB Show has done. MLB's gameplay is so good that I dont even know how they make a better game every year, but they do. Madden just seems to....well, not care.

I actually am hoping that M12 sucks too so maybe EA decides not to renew their license agreement ( i think it expires in 2012 ) and 2K can begin making a quality pro football series again.

# 104 Bash @ 08/21/10 03:21 AM

Good, I didn't buy this years game because they still haven't ****ing updated the half assed online franchise. Until they do I'm not buying madden.

# 105 tabulaRasa @ 08/21/10 03:42 AM

No competetion is a sure way to staleness.

# 106 erickonasis @ 08/21/10 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feldman_oten


	This game is not as good game. Sorry. I dk why OP gave it a 9. NCAA dominates this in every way.

Couldnt have said it better

# 107 rooney8 @ 08/21/10 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Madden started off sluggish last year and with the start of football and the holiday season it picked itself back up and made a small gain over Madden 9 by the time everything was accounted for. Continue to celebrate less sales if you want to. Business doesn't work that way if one year doesn't sell well, try to do something else the next year. It's all about budgets and the bottom line. Less sales and revenue this year, less budget next year for franchise mode and everything else that needs improving.

If a game sells badly and you cut investment you are pretty much giving up on that game. Not going to happen with Madden. My only fear is if it sells well it might reinforce the target the casual approach. If sales are bad they might decide the same as previous years that the game needs to be simplified further. Bad sales don't mean a better game but I think are more likely then good sales. Fifa and Nhl only turned there acts around after bad sales.
I think we all agree Madden11 is an arcade game targeted at casual players. Casuals don't line up at midnight for a game and very few buy it in the first couple of days so yes I would expect sales to rebound somewhat captain buzzkill.

# 108 Dazraz @ 08/21/10 07:12 AM

I think these results further lean towards a future where sports games will be developed on a 2 year cycle.
The number of staff involved in developing a game seems to grow with so many specialized areas focusing on individual aspects of the game. Despite this the upgrades seem less each year compared to earlier gen systems.

I personally like Madden 11 but that said having such important features such as the Franchise mode completely left untouched is unforgivable. EA have made improvements largely in areas that do not require massive funding. The most obvious being the development of Ask Madden into gameflow. Even the much hyped NHL 11, outside of it's gameplay refinements, looks very similar to NHL 10. The menu system, Stanley Cup celebrations & commentary are all from last year.

Probably the biggest single factor of increased development costs over previous gen systems is the amount of money spent on providing online functionality within a title. No matter how good a game may be, unless it works flawlessly online, it won't get good ratings.

I also think we as gamers have a degree of responsibility. Nowadays there are so many blogs & forums whereby the gaming community can air their views of a game & as so often is the case it's the negative aspects that get talked about the most. This can often put off fringe buyers from shelling out the money for a new release. I think these communities can help developers in that they give them a live feedback of what people do & don't like about their titles but in addition they lay a weight of expectation on a game that is almost impossible to fulfil.

In fact so many ideas & theories are discussed in the lead up to a titles release that the game will never live up to the hype it has amassed. This goes some way to explaining why there is such a discrepancy between the ratings from the industry to the user on Madden 11.

An example of a game that was received with great acclaim on the back of lower expectations was the first version of UFC. However when it came to the sequel there was a feeling of disappointment because the expectations had become much higher.

If the current sales trend is repeated in other key titles, big guns like EA will likely make the decision to take longer to develop a title which in turn can have a number of significant improvements over it's predecessor.

I personally hope that games like Madden do continue to be released annually but in doing so I am realistic that 1 year to the next I am not going to see too many changes to a game.

One thing is for sure developers will not be willing to throw more money at game development at a time when no matter how good the game is sales levels may not improve to a justifiable level.

# 109 rsherryjr @ 08/21/10 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAY IV M3RCY


	i laugh everytime i see a Madden commercial on tv. "NOW PLAY GAMES IN HALF THE TIME" seriously is this a joke, the biggest feature you have for me is being able to play my games in half the time? look the e3 showing was lame, the trailer was lame, gameflow looked lame(as a main feature). the lamest thing of all is having these reviewers rate the game so high.

This is funny! Especially when the average online game takes 10 minutes LONGER than it did last year. Besides, why would you want a great game to play in half the time?

I bought it, I admit it. I bought it for the online franchise because I was in leagues last year with friends and I will be again this year. But once MLB The Show's franchise gets better I will not be buying this game. MLB's franchise mode and gameplay was GREAT with the exception of not being able to do multiple seasons. Once that happens I will switch to playing that with friends all year around.

Also, the casual gamer doesnt buy a game annually. EA is figuring this out. It will take a little time.....but I remember well a time period before Madden, when everyone loved football just as much - but didn't buy football video games because they were so bad. We are entering that time period again, imo.

Finally, I dont see any sales figures that support Madden's bad sales reflecting the industry's problems. I saw several articles in the past that suggest a bad economy actually means good video games sales since people are working less and have more time to play.

# 110 videlsports @ 08/21/10 08:14 AM

comp forced ea to raise the bar,, they thought that the exclusive agreement would solidfy and eliminate the comp from making games.. wrong 2k has survived, a sc ruling might force the nfl from renewing the agreement, they cancelled the college basketball series, and is it a surprise that ncaa is really good because the ncaa contract ends this year? NHL and Fight night was there best games. EA better hope the MMA sells.... I'll wait until competion comes back after 2013 for the NFL and 2011 for college football.

# 111 roadman @ 08/21/10 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rooney8


	captain buzzkill.

Ok, I won't go down the same road, I'll take the higher one.

When topics like this come up, my business experience overrides my video gaming experience.

None of us knows exactly what EA does in the board room. All I know is the President of EA wasn't happy with the direction of sales with Madden 10 addressing the stockholders last year. If the low stock price and the declining sales of Madden keep continuing, EA may keep reducing the resources to each of their games, not just Madden.

# 112 robbiedizzle @ 08/21/10 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bull_Dozer


	Not surprising. I didn't buy madden 11, and I won't buy another madden until franchise mode is completely redone.

Same here with me

# 113 roadman @ 08/21/10 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grunt


	Then EA would effectively kill the Madden franchise.

If the pattern continues to happen, it could happen in the future.

# 114 rooney8 @ 08/21/10 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Ok, I won't go down the same road, I'll take the higher one. When topics like this come up, my business experience overrides my video gaming experience. None of us knows exactly what EA does in the board room. All I know is the President of EA wasn't happy with the direction of sales with Madden 10 addressing the stockholders last year. If the low stock price and the declining sales of Madden keep continuing, EA may keep reducing the resources to each of their games, not just Madden.

Sorry if it didn't come across as such but was just a joke at how most are celebrating Madden selling badly and you correctly pointing out how M10 recovered after a slow start.
I agree bad sales doesn't mean more investment but definately neither do good sales. Going by Fifa and Nhl low sales are often the kick in the pants needed. However Madden is a different kettle of fish as they already made their biggest investment with the exclusive license. I don't know bad sales will lead to a more sim game but I just think it is more likely to lead to a change with the license, Ea's approach, just something.

# 115 Lerxt @ 08/21/10 09:30 AM

When they marketed gameflow as a main feature, as a gamer that has owned a madden game in every year that one has existed, I was insulted. They repackaged the "ask madden" feature and promoted it as something new. I realize that the gameplanning aspect of that feature is different than the ask madden feature, but it just seemed like they assuming that I'm stupid or something.

When you compare the NFL video game experience to almost every other video game sporting experience (NBA, MLB, NHL, Soccer, Tennis) madden just doesn't even compare in terms of replicating that sport in a realistic way. Until madden does this, in any economic climate, their sales will be flat. When the economy is bad, people don't stop buying altogether, they just stop buying things that aren't necessities. If Madden was as good as the Show at replicating the NFL experience, more people would include madden in their list of necessities (even though we all know that necessity is a relative term!). In fact, they now have the reputation, even with gamers who wouldn't play football for 5 seconds, as a franchise that puts the same product out year to year. They need several years of blowing the consumer away with upgrades and realism.

My brother-in-law, the ultimate casual gamer, who never touches franchise by the way, still boasts of the fact that madden is as real as it gets. Realism is the term surrounding their games. Hell, the "It's in the game" phrase used to be longer. "If it's in the game, it's in the game!". Realism. I think, to an extent, they have gotten away from realism in favor of catch-phrase features that are removed within 36 months.

In a recession, people return to buying quality products. They tend to not waste their money. I'm not saying Madden 11 is a waste of money, but I bet some people are choosing to spend their video gaming dollars on a more quality experience.

# 116 mrforensics @ 08/21/10 09:34 AM

I totally agree and before the game comes out you hear from them, then once the game is release their no where to be found. Every year they take things from the game and add stuff that shouldn't be added. It will be Madden 2015 and still can't get it right

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsu_gb23


	I just never seem to get a good, positive vibe out of the EA producers (Ian, Phil, etc.) they always seem to be down and never that high on the game before it comes out. I wish they would just swallow their pride and start over. This was done with Triple Play baseball, and it turned into MVP baseball with tons of success.

# 117 mrprice33 @ 08/21/10 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazraz


	I think these results further lean towards a future where sports games will be developed on a 2 year cycle. The number of staff involved in developing a game seems to grow with so many specialized areas focusing on individual aspects of the game. Despite this the upgrades seem less each year compared to earlier gen systems. I personally like Madden 11 but that said having such important features such as the Franchise mode completely left untouched is unforgivable. EA have made improvements largely in areas that do not require massive funding. The most obvious being the development of Ask Madden into gameflow. Even the much hyped NHL 11, outside of it's gameplay refinements, looks very similar to NHL 10. The menu system, Stanley Cup celebrations & commentary are all from last year. Probably the biggest single factor of increased development costs over previous gen systems is the amount of money spent on providing online functionality within a title. No matter how good a game may be, unless it works flawlessly online, it won't get good ratings. I also think we as gamers have a degree of responsibility. Nowadays there are so many blogs & forums whereby the gaming community can air their views of a game & as so often is the case it's the negative aspects that get talked about the most. This can often put off fringe buyers from shelling out the money for a new release. I think these communities can help developers in that they give them a live feedback of what people do & don't like about their titles but in addition they lay a weight of expectation on a game that is almost impossible to fulfil. In fact so many ideas & theories are discussed in the lead up to a titles release that the game will never live up to the hype it has amassed. This goes some way to explaining why there is such a discrepancy between the ratings from the industry to the user on Madden 11. An example of a game that was received with great acclaim on the back of lower expectations was the first version of UFC. However when it came to the sequel there was a feeling of disappointment because the expectations had become much higher. If the current sales trend is repeated in other key titles, big guns like EA will likely make the decision to take longer to develop a title which in turn can have a number of significant improvements over it's predecessor. I personally hope that games like Madden do continue to be released annually but in doing so I am realistic that 1 year to the next I am not going to see too many changes to a game. One thing is for sure developers will not be willing to throw more money at game development at a time when no matter how good the game is sales levels may not improve to a justifiable level.

That's a wonderful post. Personally I think if they really blew out franchise, online franchise, and presentation they'd do much better (sales wise) next year. It's unfortunate because with sliders this is one of the best on the field football games I've played, and will be even better once they patch up a couple of things, but it is very disappointing to see how little was done to franchise.

I've been kind of saying since ncaa came out that these games are on 2 year development cycles, just unofficially so. It will most likely take them 2 years to implement any feature now, as the dev cost (in time and money) is far too great.

For example, let's say ea brought back the radio show from 2005. They'd be maligned for it, because this is now the hd video era, and video should be the focus of the franchise presentation. How long would it take to do enough fmv to last 30 years worth of franchise presentation? That would take forever.

I'm of the opinion that the excitement will come back when ea can manage to replicate the experience of following a season on tv on madden.

Time will tell if sales are actually down, but they've got to show us something next year. I was fortunate to have $50 in credit at Amazon which meant I got the game for 10 bucks, and I don't know if I would have bought it otherwise (and a lot of people on here would call me a hardcore ea apologist). If next year brings us the same franchise without a tremendous leap forward in gameplay (like a true physics engine), I'm probably taking next year off.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

# 118 PhillyJim76 @ 08/21/10 09:39 AM

Madden will always do well, because it is Madden. That is the problem. I am as guilty as anyone, although my copy was purchased for me as a birthday gift, but look how many people buy Madden out of habit. That's the problem, and we are all culpable!

# 119 roadman @ 08/21/10 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rooney8


	Sorry if it didn't come across as such but was just a joke at how most are celebrating Madden selling badly and you correctly pointing out how M10 recovered after a slow start. I agree bad sales doesn't mean more investment but definately neither do good sales. Going by Fifa and Nhl low sales are often the kick in the pants needed. However Madden is a different kettle of fish as they already made their biggest investment with the exclusive license. I don't know bad sales will lead to a more sim game but I just think it is more likely to lead to a change with the license, Ea's approach, just something.

You might try using the winking smiley or the laughing smiley next time instead of the grumpy smiley. Hard to tell the way people feel on a messageboard. (just a suggestion)

Tibouran tried a different approach this year and the jury is still out on how that will all shake out. On OS, we know most of the folks didn't purchase or don't appreciate 11, but worldwide, we don't know what the take is, yet. You can take a look at recent history and ask if declining/bad sales have lead to more sim games for Madden. However, there was a post recently by Adembroski that went through the history of Madden 06-09, and then since Ian and Phil took over. It really made me think and put a different perspective on where the series is going. Unfortunately, it's not going quickly enough for a lot of people.

I want an authenticated NFL game as much as the next person does.

# 120 LucianoJJ @ 08/21/10 09:56 AM

This bad news could lead to a number of things happening.

1) EA may decide to dump Madden, and reinvent the NFL game they way they are looking to with NBA Elite succeeding NBA Live. We might finally get a real Next Gen game, but I don't like throwing Madden under the bus. (Sorry) EA can always say, Madden's retired, he's old, but this is going to burn long time fans.

2) New releases might finally drop in price to $49.99. Great.

3) EA will probably get rid of Riccitello, their head honcho, or Peter Moore, the figurehead at EA Sports.

4) This I hope won't happen but, what if EA decides to dump NCAA Football and use all the best talent from that team to rework Madden/NFL Football? If they can justify killing off NCAA Basketball and NASCAR, NCAA Football could be sacrificed.

In the end, it's the economy, stupid, as Bill Clinton said. A weak economy is painful, but it also exposes the people who do business poorly. Eventually next gen is going to fizzle out, never having lived up to the hype, and we'll either have better games on mobile devices, or we will find something else to do with our time and money.

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