Madden NFL 11 News Post

Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y in October

04:01 PM - November 17, 2010 by RaychelSnr

One more nugget from the Cowen and Company piece is that Madden sales are in fact down 18% year over year for the month of October:

Quote:


	"Even with disappointments for NHL 11 and Medal of Honor, EA's software sales grew 17 percent year over year in October. EA Sports MMA sold 45,000 units, and the Madden NFL franchise is down 18 percent year over year."

If you recall, I predicted in a blog post back in late August ('Are Madden Sales Slipping?') that Madden sales would probably end up down even after initial reports showed the game's sales were up 12% back in August. But an 18% drop was far more than I ever expected, that's nearly a 1/5 cut in top-line revenue from one of EA's biggest franchises on a Y-o-Y basis. If the trend continues, Madden sales could end up down substantially with the all-important Winter Shopping Season approaching.

That's incredibly bad news.

There is a lot of speculation as to why sales have slowed so much so fast, but I believe the reasons are the same now as I initially thought back then: consumers aren't impressed with the direction of the Madden series with so many other options for them to partake in. The longevity of the game is definitely in question and the word of mouth factor seems to be non-existent this year.

This is easily a referendum on the direction of the direction of the series, especially if trends continue to hold through December. I initially thought there wouldn't be much panic from the suits at EA, but this was before the Elite Fiasco hit the world, so now you can never be too careful when trying to prognosticate what EA might do next.

No doubt the decision makers at EA know exactly about the slip in sales of the Madden franchise, which are slowing substantially moreso than previous years after being on store shelves. So whatever panic decisions/reshuffling you would expect have probably already been made in some regards, although some may not be made until the Christmas shopping season is over. There is definitely increasing pressure on the Madden team to perform, and if sales do come in flat to somewhat down there could be some changes to the gameplan going forward.

This is definitely not good news for gamers who have liked the direction of Madden for the past couple of years if this trend holds into the Christmas shopping season. Also just as alarming is Madden's shrinking sales to the hardcore gamers on the top platforms, with sales down between 30% and 40% depending on how you calculate game sales and from whom from it's high in the middle of the last decade.

This is an interesting story we'll continue to follow. In the meantime, do you think we'll see some big changes in the direction for Madden NFL 12?

[ Update ] It's not clear whether Cowen and Company's analyst was commenting on the entire sales volume from Aug-Oct or just in the Month of October. Either way, that would only slightly give the news a bit less negativity for EA -- but it'd still be very negative news. We'll keep on this story.

[ Update #2 ] After analyzing the data and receiving word from a few trusted analysts this is definitely a Monthly drop from last October of 18%. This means after Madden sales started out on a rush, they have plummeted as the product has stayed on store shelves. The real test will be the Christmas shopping season. Roughly 30% of Madden's sales come from Christmas-time sales. If sales are still down substantially in November and then December, things could get ugly for EA. As it is right now though, this is a sharp drop worth watching. Edited the original article to reflect these clarifications.

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Member Comments

# 101 RaychelSnr @ 11/18/10 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	Madden had a fantastic Christmas-season and actually ended up selling rather well after a slow start. This year seems to be opposite, the game started off selling really fast and sales have now ran into a brick wall. If you look that article was actually published in September quite early (as is November). Once you get through Christmas if you still have these headlines, look for trouble to brew in Paradise.

Always trying to be upfront here: got some clarifications back from people that matter and made a few changes to the original article (at 2:00 am no less). You can read them, the news isn't all that good still considering we saw the exact opposite happen last year....wouldn't surprise me to see a Price drop and/or a marketing blitz heading into Christmas.

Now to see if my insomnia will go away.

# 102 blklightning @ 11/18/10 03:29 AM

makes perfect sense; the game is still bargain bin at this point. so i'm glad to see the sales reflecting the poor quality of the product.

# 103 mestevo @ 11/18/10 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grunt


	EA's cash cow Madden is dying.

This is probably the furthest from the truth. Madden sales are probably close to flat if anything on the current consoles, combined with DLC and whatnot they are almost certainly getting more per purchased copy than ever before.

Meanwhile there were reports like these that were conveniently skipped over...

http://news.softpedia.com/news/NPD-S...t-155922.shtml

http://gamertvnetwork.com/index.php/...t/article/1135

http://www.gameseyeview.com/2010/09/...-august-sales/

http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/...bies-dominate/

Relative to other games in the lame new NPD reports Madden is where it was expected, but don't let that get in the way of pointing out the 1 liner of negativity out of context with no real data so it can actually be understood from this month's NPD.

People will see the flashy headline and assume the above though, that's for sure. Criticize people for using vgchartz, but then putting stuff like this out there, in addition to linking to the pretty much debunked previous article, what's that about credibility?

# 104 RaychelSnr @ 11/18/10 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	360 + PS3 in the US combined dont equal the number of PS2s sold yet in the US, where exactly do you expect these sales numbers to be made up from? When considering the few million copies that have been sold so far, with another million or two likely to be sold before Madden 12, the hundred(s) of thousands of PS2 copies sold last year that were not this year are certainly one reason for this magical 18%. Also I note you come and defend your post here, what happened with your last one, when I pointed out that sales returned to normal, proving that it was just week 1 sales to draw people into their stores to pick up Madden 11 rather than a competitors?

This 18% drop was a 12% surge in total sales just 3 short months ago using the same data. That's a huge turnaround in such a short time in terms of sales trends. The game was red hot and is now ice cold, that's not a recipe for success during the all-important Holiday season. As far as your last point, I have no idea what you are trying to say

Quote:


	It's clear that there isn't a more dominant platform than the PS2 in the last decade, as a result comparing PS2 -> PS3 and expecting things to just work out and using that as your premise that things are less than satisfactory is flawed. Could things be better? Always. For your FIFA example... i'd point in part to improvement to a good game, but also the fact that we're not that far removed from a World Cup either.

Yes, the PS2 had a large volume of sales, but don't discount hardware replacement and late arrivals to the scene either. In terms of North American actual installed userbases, the number was a good bit smaller than 50 million during the boom years of Madden (and if you try to bring in Japanese and European hardware totals I'll ask you to go find more than 10,000 people total playing Madden in those countries).

FIFA is just one example of great sales growth due to quality. You can also look at NHL for an example. NBA 2K also saw good growth overall, but not as dramatic as NHL or FIFA.

Quote:


	Because there is no accurate comparison, but there were almost a million PS2 sales in 2009. Those sales aren't being replaced as quickly as that platform died, this is one reason there are 'losses' for Madden as a title.

Again, Madden started off very quickly and was actually above last years pace even including the PS2 and as the game has spent time on the shelf and it is now alarmingly behind last year's pace. Of course, this is a trend that has to hold for it to become a problem since November and December are much bigger months for Madden than October is historically. However, you can't have your cake and eat it too (in reference to your newest post). If you want to use Madden's strong sales out of the gate this year to support your thesis, then you have to dump the PS2 argument from the equation, although it has to be dumped anyways due to simple mathematics.

Quote:


	Without knowing how much the PS2 sales make up for the lag in sales the figure is 100% meaningless.

Considering they made up around 10% of last year's total sales on all platforms and so far about 6% of this year's sales, I'd have to say they can't mathematically be responsible for all of an 18% drop...but definitely a piece

Quote:


	Percentages dont work like that, and please point out where the numbers are wrong by the way... at a glance it looks like those are year end figures, or do you think that nothing was sold from the end of the year and the 9 months following it prior to the next Madden's release?

As total volume of sales, over 90% of Madden's sales occur from August to December, so anything from late December onwards is perfectly reasonable if you want to reference it, just as an FYI to anyone digging for sales data -- you can just use NPD though since that's what they all reference

# 105 Dazraz @ 11/18/10 03:51 AM

Madden 11 doesn't do many things badly. It's just that it doesn't do one single thing great.

With each generation of consoles we get the same old routine. An awful stripped down first release followed by subsequent versions receiving upgrades that have often been seen on earlier console releases.

Never has the Madden series been ground breaking. Look what 2K have done with the NBA franchise & Sony likewise with their MLB game. EA have never come close to either of those games, not just with Madden, but any of their titles.

The sad result in this fall in sales is that the response from the EA Boardroom God's will be a negative one. We won't see the required big push from EA to take the franchise where it needs to go. Instead they will just tighten the purse strings further & release another game with some fancy slogans but little change.

We are unlikely to see a jaw dropping NFL game unless EA lose the exclusivity of the license. 2K are surely waiting in the wings to get the rights & they have already proven what they are capable of doing in this genre.

# 106 PVarck31 @ 11/18/10 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	This is probably the furthest from the truth. Madden sales are probably close to flat if anything on the current consoles, combined with DLC and whatnot they are almost certainly getting more per purchased copy than ever before. Meanwhile there were reports like these that were conveniently skipped over... http://news.softpedia.com/news/NPD-S...t-155922.shtml http://gamertvnetwork.com/index.php/...t/article/1135 http://www.gameseyeview.com/2010/09/...-august-sales/ http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/...bies-dominate/ Relative to other games in the lame new NPD reports Madden is where it was expected, but don't let that get in the way of pointing out the 1 liner of negativity out of context with no real data so it can actually be understood from this month's NPD. People will see the flashy headline and assume the above though, that's for sure. Criticize people for using vgchartz, but then putting stuff like this out there, in addition to linking to the pretty much debunked previous article, what's that about credibility?

I don't see how this is just a flashy headline. This is a real sales trend. It has to be given attention. When a cash cow is down in sales its newsworthy.

As far as questioning Chris' credibility, you are bordering on being out of line. He didn't skip over anything. He mentions that Madden had strong sales in August.

# 107 Amoo316 @ 11/18/10 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	This is probably the furthest from the truth. Madden sales are probably close to flat if anything on the current consoles, combined with DLC and whatnot they are almost certainly getting more per purchased copy than ever before. Meanwhile there were reports like these that were conveniently skipped over... http://news.softpedia.com/news/NPD-S...t-155922.shtml http://gamertvnetwork.com/index.php/...t/article/1135 http://www.gameseyeview.com/2010/09/...-august-sales/ http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/...bies-dominate/ Relative to other games in the lame new NPD reports Madden is where it was expected, but don't let that get in the way of pointing out the 1 liner of negativity out of context with no real data so it can actually be understood from this month's NPD. People will see the flashy headline and assume the above though, that's for sure. Criticize people for using vgchartz, but then putting stuff like this out there, in addition to linking to the pretty much debunked previous article, what's that about credibility?

I know you're doing your best to feverishly defend your position here but the reality of the situation is that nobody really cares what the numbers say. We are all sitting here saying we don't like the direction of the franchise and have stopped buying it or traded it early with no future intent to buy. If you're too dense to realize that the impressions in this thread are more important than any of the numbers presented then maybe you need to find a job in marketing if you don't already have one.

# 108 PikeJR23 @ 11/18/10 07:14 AM

Quick and simple solution: Hire the ppl who worked on NFL 2k5...it may take two years for them to completely change the game to something that resembles sim football but I would prefer that over their current direction. All they have to do is look at the success of NBA 2k11.

# 109 JBH3 @ 11/18/10 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	What amazes me is how they could let this stuff go for so long. Add more devs, and get it right. It's *OBVIOUS* what sports gamers want, and have always wanted... Simple math: (ANY of the best selling titles over history) + (copy them)= success

It would seem to me that MLB The Show and NBA2K does not exist to EA. They are on their own program...unfortunately...

# 110 Armor and Sword @ 11/18/10 09:13 AM

I know I speak for a lot of Madden players here when I say that if they just give us an immersive offline franchise and better presentation we would be doing cartwheels.

Believe it or not there are hardcore sports gamers (yeah I am hardcore or I would not be posting here) who are really enjoying Madden 2011 and are just craving for that great franchise mode.

We don't have to reinvent the wheel. It feels like Madden and it certainly plays like Madden. It is the best playing Madden since (2005/2007 PS2) offline. Online we all know is a joke. Online sports gaming in general is a joke if your sim/realistic style player. I already learned a long time ago...stay offline with my sports games.

I hope 2K does get a chance to make another NFL game then we can get the choice we all want. And all this bashing of Madden can end. I am not saying Madden 2011 is a fantastic game. Far from it when you compare it to the gems like NBA2K11, NHL 2011, NCAA 2011 and MLB The Show, However there are a ton of us who have made it work for better or worse because we love our NFL football, and instead of throwing my arms up about gameplay issues and the lack of a deep immersive franchise mode I have found a way to throughly enjoy the game (great sliders, game plans for the cpu, house rules for franchise, controlling all 32 teams). Yes I want them to hear our crys for that franchise we deserve as being long time hard core buyers of Madden. There was a time they did (2005-2007). But what the heck happened when they went new gen?

Sorry so many can't get this game to play the way they want. But it is quite apparent that Madden will never ever meet the high expectations of those who expect a 2K like football game.

Madden has never played like 2K and never will. I don't understand the thought process of gamers who feel they have ever strived for that approach! Madden has felt and looked the same since the 2000 version first hit PS2 and it has sold like gangbusters for almost a decade. They were doing something right. Yes the sales have been dropping, but I think that is a combination of a lot of factors.

1) Many more gaming choices and the evolution of other sports titles, FPS, platform games, Wii etc.

2) The aging core buying base of Madden fans and hard core sports gamers in general (guys grow up and stop playing video games or play very little). We are dinosaurs everyone. Do you really think the youth of today would keep paper stats? Play Strato matic? The only kids that will are mine and those that pass that sports gaming history to their kids. There are not many of us around anymore.

3) The game has not changed enough for a segment (fair enough I agree it has seen little baby steps of improvement).

So as far the gameplay issue which is the hot topic on this thread......it is what it is...it has always been like this...so what do you expect? It is not really changing they way you want it to. I happen to think the game plays better than it ever has. It took them 5 years (yes 5 years is a long time) but they finally got the running game feeling really good and I enjoy that aspect of the game a ton. They finally got the true pocket forming for the QB. They made a lot of those improvements...finally. Stuff that was already in another NFL game we know about.

The part that has a lot of Madden fans upset (me included) is the step back it has taken in it's franchise mode on the new gen.

Fix that aspect and the complanits and cries will drop 10 fold.

# 111 RoyalBoyle78 @ 11/18/10 09:30 AM

what about the gamers like me that sold Madden, do they have record on returns or trade in's. I'm that number would be huge.

# 112 TreFacTor @ 11/18/10 09:33 AM

My main issue with Ea catering to the more casual fan is that in MY experience, the casual Madden player doesn't buy the game. The fan faithful are the ones at the midnight releases, the ones who invest hours labing to get their game up to speed (more recently to combat or counter glitches and bugs), invest hours into making slider sets that make the game bearable in the least. The casual madden player comes over once every other month to the guys house who he knows bought the game.

My sons are the perfect example of the casual madden player. While we have 3 360's, mine is the only console in the house with a copy of the game (the exception being m11). My sons don't want the game. When I got M10, my sons opted for Guitar Hero and some other junk (yes we do buy multiple copies of the same game occasionally because their not getting their hands on my discs ). But even though they can play the game anytime... they prefer other A.D.D. type games. They may spend maybe an hour at the most on any one title while I would play madden for an entire saturday or sunday.

EA is expecting to get the quick buck and the hardcore suffers (although maybe masochistically) in the end.

# 113 Armor and Sword @ 11/18/10 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreFacTor


	My main issue with Ea catering to the more casual fan is that in MY experience, the casual Madden player doesn't buy the game. The fan faithful are the ones at the midnight releases, the ones who invest hours labing to get their game up to speed (more recently to combat or counter glitches and bugs), invest hours into making slider sets that make the game bearable in the least. The casual madden player comes over once every other month to the guys house who he knows bought the game. My sons are the perfect example of the casual madden player. While we have 3 360's, mine is the only console in the house with a copy of the game (the exception being m11). My sons don't want the game. When I got M10, my sons opted for Guitar Hero and some other junk (yes we do buy multiple copies of the same game occasionally because their not getting their hands on my discs ). But even though they can play the game anytime... they prefer other A.D.D. type games. They may spend maybe an hour at the most on any one title while I would play madden for an entire saturday or sunday. EA is expecting to get the quick buck and the hardcore suffers (although maybe masochistically) in the end.

Yep....this is exactly one of my points. We are a dying breed. Most kids today do not sit down for 3-4 hours and dig deep into their sports games. They don't care to do that. Most of the country is becoming ADD it seems.

Again this is why my expectations for Madden are so low. I just want what you want. Deep and immersive franchise. The game is very playable offline. It is not garbage like so many bashers love to say. It just needs to give us the feeling we are part of the league and immerse us in that regard.

Ian and co know this. They read all this stuff and I think we will get a decent facelift in franchise.

If we don't.....I am not buying Madden.

This is the first time since 2004 that I bought back to back copies of Madden. And the reason was 2010 was such a breakthrough for the game for me (first next gen version I played) and after playing the demo for 2011 it was quite clear to me how much tighter it played than 2010. Those that claim the defense is gone....baaaaa. Offline it is fine with great sliders and it reflects the NFL today. Teams can pass...in 2010 the passing game was awful. Deep ball? Gone. Screens were an exploit. Madden 2010 had serious flaws in that regard. 2011 they fixed all that and gave us the deep ball again.

It's all in how you approach the game. I play with the no switch rule (after getting ton's of feedback on that way of playing) on defense and I do not user catch anymore.

Games play much better that way. Yeah...it sucks we have to put handcuffs on ourselves to play a game, but you have different kinds of players.

1) Those that want as close a representation of Sunday

2) or those who just want to win and bash the cpu (which we can all do if we wanted to every game)

I am in category one. So I am gettting great stats, tight games, thrilling combacks. I am getting great variety in 2011. In Madden 2010 it was sorely missing the fun factor.

# 114 ltw0303cavs @ 11/18/10 09:54 AM

Yeah , i mean i watch football way more than basketball, but i bought NBA 2K not Madden. Real simple NBA 2k and the Show have "immersion" Madden does not. Their franchise mode has not changed at all, NFL draft one of the biggest parts of the NFL has no feel to it in Madden. Gameplay is great, they have done a great job with that , but now they have to work on the asthetics and franchise

# 115 Armor and Sword @ 11/18/10 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ltw0303cavs


	Yeah , i mean i watch football way more than basketball, but i bought NBA 2K not Madden. Real simple NBA 2k and the Show have "immersion" Madden does not. Their franchise mode has not changed at all, NFL draft one of the biggest parts of the NFL has no feel to it in Madden. Gameplay is great, they have done a great job with that , but now they have to work on the asthetics and franchise

NFL Head Coach 2009 - The draft in that game is like it is on ESPN and NFL Network. It is brilliant. In fact the enitre GM/Coaching mode is fantastic. The drawback on the game is the actual gameplay that plays out on the field...it is pretty barebones and buggy. But take that approach to a franchise mode and slap into Madden and you would have one of the best football games ever.

# 116 ChampN252 @ 11/18/10 10:14 AM

I hope someone from EA does read this. It's not all you guy's flaw. Recently the NFL has been going crazy with handing out fines. Every time there is a hard hit in a game, you're wondering if the hitter is going to be penalized/fined. That is turning me away from football. It also seems like they are modifying rules to how they see fit for a certain plays. That's not helping. And for the fact that year after year, we can't get a really good football game has made me find my new love, baseball. Football never was my favorite sports, but the things above made it certain. I can't really get any good advice, but I only play baseball games now, but I'm sure you guys can pull it out. Maybe it's time to find a new cash cow.

# 117 Radja @ 11/18/10 10:18 AM

i actually really liked 10 but since 11 was just a slight improvement with game play and no improvement with the franchise aspects, it was pointless to purchase it with nba 2k11 coming and some other games i was already playing.

besides, i was still enjoying my previous franchise. there is simply no way i can justify spending 59.99 or subscribing to sports illustrated for a simple roster update.

that being said, i do believe i will be getting 12, if the follow through with some significant franchise improvements. why they cannot have a real injured reserved list and increased pre-season roster size in the next gen systems is as chaz michael michael says, mind bottling. it was in 2k5 on the ps2.

# 118 MAzing87 @ 11/18/10 11:16 AM

For the first time ever, I skipped Madden this year. I threatened to do it a couple of years ago, but I really didn't bother to check Madden 11. I was surprised at first but then again, I'm not. It was hard for me because I love the game of football, I have played on the collegiate level, and love the NFL. After playing Madden 08-10, I just noticed that I wasn't having any fun with the arcadey feel and dumb AI. With this being the only NFL game out, I expected a very high quality NFL game. But in my opinion, its not even close. My focus was always the franchise mode & the career mode, more so than online. No real changes or improvements were made in those modes and that was a turn off. When I played online, I hated the fact that people would disconnect because they were losing. So I didn't play much online.

Anyway to close. This was a surprise to read. I really didn't think sales would drop since there is a Madden cult following every year. But it turns out that there are gamers out there who are getting fed up much like how I did. EA is a powerhouse company that can put out a great football game. They just choose to put minor things in to call them features every year, taking full advantage of the fact that they are the only company to put out a licensed product. All for the maximum profit.

# 119 Nunyerbiz @ 11/18/10 11:32 AM

I don't think it's reasonable to compare NBA2K11 selling well and Madden not selling well and draw any conclusions about "sim vs casual". I just don't see the connection. NBA is seeing a large sales increase because they made a major leap in the gameplay. They improved the foundation, but they didn't completely change directions. It wasn't like NBA was an arcade game and they suddenly went "hardcore sim" and the money started falling from the sky. NHL 11 is, by most accounts, the most realistic / sim friendly title to date yet the sales are dissapointing.

The 2K folks made major improvements in what used to be a complete joke of a basketball AI system and added some good marketing touches (Jordan)... that's basically it. The game had a weakness, a weakness that effected anybody who played it, and they vastly improved it. The improved AI benefitted everybody. I'm a casual hoops gamer, and I got bored pretty quickly with being able to shoot 70% and drive to the hoop with my eyes closed regardless of difficulty settings when I played NBA2K9/10. They just were not great games. When the 2K11 reviews hit and word of mouth spread that they took the 3 or 4 star games from 2K9/2K10 and pushed them closer to 5 star territory, sales followed.

Madden hasn't had any such "major leap" since who-knows-when... the PS2 days? Madden is behind the 8-ball with the foundation, but that has nothing to do with catering to a certain fanbase or needing to change the direction of the franchise. You make a sports game with that solid foundation and it's not terribly difficult to give gamers an experience that varies from casual to sim just based on sliders. If you are constantly recycling the same lackluster foundation for three straight years then both casual and hardcore gamers are going to take notice and spend their dollars elsewhere.

# 120 BezO @ 11/18/10 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgiles36


	Agreed. I can see why EA tries to take this approach with Madden, and while the game has improved, it doesn't have a unified focus and it shows in the final product. I've grown tired of comparing Madden to other sports games, but it seems games like NBA2K have a singular focus: to be the most authentic NBA game down to the very fine details. That includes gameplay, presentation, atmosphere, everything. Madden tries to be everything to everybody, and while I see what they're attempting to do, no one is completely satisfied. It doesn't work.

I believe Madden could be everything to everybody. EA needs not to aim at the low end to do so.

Assuming casual fans make up the majority of Madden sales like folks say, the only thing differentiating a casual fan from a sim one is ease of play. A casual fan is not looking to avoid sim as I define it as it has nothing to do with difficulty. Both casual and sim fans should be able to enjoy a realistic game of football. The sim fan just wants more of a challenge, using knowledge & skill to win.

It seems easy to me. Make the most realistic game of football with working, dynamic difficulty levels & sliders.

And to clarify what I believe sim is, it's recreating the sport. It should look & play like football. Players moving how they do IRL and keying & reacting to what they do IRL is the key. How hard it is to execute is a separate matter IMO. How involved you have to be is a separate matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	In today's market, you have to have a realistic and smooth presentation as well as good and well balanced gameplay. If you have both, a game doesn't have to play realistic in the sense of true to life stats in order to be considered realistic. From a psychological point of view, a lot of the gaming experience is believing what you are seeing and a good chunk of us experience a majority of our sports via the TV. The key to a good game is mimicking that delivery with gameplay that's well-balanced (ie neither the defense or offense has a built in advantage due to how the game is played). Of course, that discussion is something I'm saving up for a future Op-Ed for the frontpage at some point

This is what I'm saying above, but differently.

IMO, stats are another thing that I separate from realism. Stats are related to difficulty. The easier the game, the more yards/points you can score. But I believe the game can still be ultra realistic with a low difficulty setting that allows for big stats. There are big stat games IRL all the time. I believe a couple of QBs have thrown for 400 yards this year. A. Foster ran for 200+ in game 1. There was nothing unrealistic about any of those performances.

What EA needs to do is minipulate difficulty while improving gameplay/realism, AI, animations & authenticity. They can add effort & fluidity to animations without making the game harder. They can add gap & contain assignments without making the game harder. They can add engaged player mobility that will allow for better passing pockets, outside runs & punt blocking, without making the game harder. They can tier the defensive play calling without making the game harder. Along with tv-style presentation, these are things that give gamers what they see on Sundays. A casual fan may not understand everything he sees, but can still enjoy it looking like what he sees on Sundays.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grismosw


	I still think the mistake they made was starting from scratch when they went to current generation. The Show, NBA 2K, and College Hoops 2K meanwhile built off what they had already started and were light years ahead of EA. EA can't even catch up with what they already had in last generation. Outside of NHL all of their sports series are in the dumps, I think NCAA Football this year is decent but you can't get too deep into Dynasty Mode without all sorts of flaws.

I think the difference is that those games had better, more flexible engines. What they started with last gen allowed for significant additions. Madden's programming sounds like it's more rigid, thus harder to provide what many of us are looking for.

I'll never forget an EA quote many years ago implying that gang tackling was not possible on last gen systems. I don't know if the rep was unaware or just being arrogant, but 2K had already implemented gang tackling at the time of the statement. I imagine that that EA rep really meant that last gen systems couldn't handle it the way they would need to do it given their current programming.

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