Madden NFL 11 News Post

To EA and Madden Consumers, Madden Is a Success

01:30 PM - February 7, 2011 by RaychelSnr

I gave myself the unenviable task of defending this generation of Madden and making a case that it has been a success.

Yeah, I am THAT crazy at this point.

But before I explain why I think Madden has been a success, I think it's best to define success. In other words, whose success are we looking at in this case?

If you look at it from EA's point of view, your definition of success would be entirely different from a fan's idea of success. The point of view I will be using changes the tone of my defense, so let me phrase this as best and as clearly as I can in the next paragraph.

The success of the Madden series is based on more people playing Madden year over year because, at that point, both EA and the consumers must be happy -- otherwise the sales would be decreasing.

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# 1 1WEiRDguy @ 02/07/11 01:41 PM

good article, but you dont mention how their sales "success" has been skewed. Its been said many times before, but without a direct competitor, it is the ONLY product consumers will buy to get their pro football fix. (see Live Elite vs. 2k11) I won't even try to compare it to Backbreaker, but i guess the comparsion is inevitable

Look at BB...without real NFL team names, logos, stadiums, etc...people dismissed it from jump without even playing it. Now the gameplay was NOT the best...i will be the first to say that, but i thought it did have a solid foundation to build upon. But at any rate, most people passed over BB and just waited it out until madden was released.

Just off sales alone, i guess they are somewhat successful b/c they gain profit and in the end thats all that matters.

# 2 Chivers688 @ 02/07/11 01:51 PM

You simply cannot rule a monopoly as a success. There's nothing to compare it to.

You say sales figures are good, but it's possible that another company could have had 5x the amount of sales Madden has if it had been developing over the same time period.
And the gameplay could have been far more advanced than Madden has.

You simply cannot say it is a success without a direct rival to compare it to. Madden has a monopoly, over the NFL video game market.

# 3 roadman @ 02/07/11 02:54 PM

Eh, I don't consider Madden sales slumping 18% one month a success.

# 4 guaps @ 02/07/11 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chivers688


	You simply cannot rule a monopoly as a success.

Spot on!

EA being successful when they control the market to an extent that they can keep competitors out isn't really a a great task and hard to define as a success.

As for being a success for the consumers I have to disagree. Without the pressures of competitors getting ahead of them, EA are very slow and conservative about making decisions on new technology/features -- essentially preventing any type of "Creative Destruction" (innovation displacing the old and outdate), and in the end, the Madden consumers ultimately face a "take-it-or-leave-it" choice.

# 5 ManiacMatt1782 @ 02/07/11 03:05 PM

But the only number that matters to EA, is sales figures. If people keep buying a subpar product, then they have no incentive to improve. Make the most money while spending the least. Thats business 101 in a capitalist market.

# 6 statum71 @ 02/07/11 03:44 PM

Yes...there's alot of things I'd like to see better in Madden. Mostly presentation for me.

But you're right...the game is far from terrible.

# 7 ManiacMatt1782 @ 02/07/11 03:50 PM

Statum, I would like to see real offensive line logic, and reading the holes actually mattering. not let me get lucky in a a certain animation that lets me break a 4 man gang tackle that I have absolutely no control of. I could care less about presentation, until fundamental football is done right.

# 8 RaychelSnr @ 02/07/11 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	Where does the author get that Madden's sales are increasing? Across platforms, Madden used to sell 8 million, now they barely crack 5 million across all platforms. Seems like sales have been on a consistent decline to me.

If you find a reliable source with those numbers, I'd be happy to look at them. But from EA's earning's reports and NPD numbers -- Madden has seen sales growth most every 'season'. You can't say that Madden has sold over 8 million units in the past and not provide a source of where you got them -- and if you say VGChartz then just remember they are probably the most unreliable source you could quote. But even there, Madden sold nearly 8 million units total LAST year.

# 9 RaychelSnr @ 02/07/11 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Eh, I don't consider Madden sales slumping 18% one month a success.

That was a Y-O-Y figure. Totals sales are probably going to end up roughly flat to slightly down. Saying Madden didn't sell well one month and saying it's a failure is roughly equivalent to saying an NFL team has had a bad season for losing two weeks in a row, even though it appears they're playoff bound.

# 10 wyrm187 @ 02/07/11 04:11 PM

I hate when people come on here and bitch and moan about how terrible a game is but I feel passionatley that Madden is just not a good game, or a fun game for that matter. I judge sucess on the other sports titles that are out and how well they represent the sport - The Show is a sucess, it captures the intricacies and the subtelties of the game - it is about attention to detail . .. .nba2k - another phenomonal sports title - madden is not even in the same ball park as these games, pun intended.

I will not buy another madden until the entire game engine is overhauled - because for me it is completely missing, from the way the players move to the core gameplay mechanics - it feels off and it's not even enjoyable. Sucess? with the technology available to them and the other sports titles I mentioned - I would say mediocrity is how I would describe Madden, and that's more credit than I should probably give this disgrace of a football game

# 11 raz77 @ 02/07/11 04:13 PM

Well, I guess if you found a way to legally cripple all of its competition the geo metro could be the most successful race car of all time.

# 12 Radja @ 02/07/11 04:25 PM

why the games sales figures are so hard to find is really stupid. what is the big secret of it all for game companies to hide the numbers? i can see hiding low numbers, but if the game sells a ton, tell everyone.

however, simple unit sales do not tell the whole picture. some games move a lot copies when they start marking them down. examples could be one game who sold the majority of their units at $60.00 but the other sold the majority of theirs at $40.00. obviously, one company made more money. they may have sold the same amount of units overall, the price point for the consumer was different.

# 13 Skyboxer @ 02/07/11 04:26 PM

I wouldn't call a game that I've probably owned a total of 1 month combined with all years this gen, a success. For the most part this gen madden has not had a soul at all. No clear direction of where the game wanted to go.

No excitement yet for the next version
+ No confidence in Madden getting a set direction and going with it
+ A wait and see approach instead of 1st day buy

= no success for this gamer.

I miss my Madden. Hopefully we'll be surprised this year.

I have no idea what the main stream gamers feel about it. Just saying how I feel.

# 14 1WEiRDguy @ 02/07/11 04:30 PM

fellas, im in no way supporting madden, but if you spend $1 to make something and someone buys it for $2, then you are in the green...so dollars wise, they are winning...im sure the budget for that game hasnt grown since coming to next gen (that is my biased opinion with no facts to support), so they can keep spening a couple of million to develop it while raking in tens of millions...then with the addition of all that crap, i meant "boosts" noobs seem to buy online, they will continue to make more money...

# 15 jyoung @ 02/07/11 05:57 PM

Quote:


	To EA, Madden Is a Success

I agree with this.

But I think Madden consumers are getting a raw deal this gen. Madden this generation is not living up to any standard you can think of.

It's worse than the older PS2 Maddens. Worse than 2K5 and 2K8 Football. Worse than EA's other football franchise (NCAA 11). Worse than the other EA sports franchises (NHL 11, FIFA 11). And worse than the industry's best franchises (NBA 2K, MLB The Show).

But of course, sales are the only standard that matter to EA.

EA wins; consumers lose.

# 16 aholbert32 @ 02/07/11 06:00 PM

"I'm gonna play the oldies" always cracks me up. Really? You prefer Tecmo Super Bowl over Madden 11? Really?

I love Tecmo Super Bowl. I love some of the old Madden's but come on. For all the things you complain about Madden, the older games had none of them. Tecmo had 8 plays per team. 8 plays! That game was fun as hell back in the day but today it pales in comparison.

The problem is back in the day we gave games a pass because they were fun. People ignored Tecmo Super Bowl's issues because it was fun. We dont give current games that kind of pass. We expect them to be supersims and get upset when they have flaws.

I have a ton of issues with Madden 11 (Special Teams sucks, Broken Gameplanning, Penalties like offsides and PI still broken) and many of these have been issues for years. The reason I'm able to ignore it is because I'm willing to give it the same pass I gave games like Tecmo in the past.

I dont know how anyone could enjoy Tecmo today but hate Madden unless they were holding them to a different standard.

# 17 khaliib @ 02/07/11 06:01 PM

Well, the one thing write-ups like this do is stir great discussion and/or debate.

The trap is see pertaining to Madden in many replies is that the debate of quality/progress is kept in the "Sports" genre bubble. It's debated off of other football (wait, there is no other football) or sports titles as to how good it is.

Well if we want to really analyze a game, it has to be compared to all games made for these systems, not just a specific genre. Doing so will really reveal where a game stands.

With that, comparing Madden to other games, you can see that it is far behind were some of these other games are at. Is there a complete game out there, no, but no other developer has Exclusive Rights to a major brand, that shut out the opportunity for others.

When you look at 1st person shooters and see the level of graphic detail that has progressed with these games, why does Madden not come close with all the resources it has?

-Even Racing Sims have raised the level of detail to new levels
-That;s why we bought these consoles. For the graphic details we know these systems can run.

What "WOW" injection has Madden brought to the table since the 360/PS3 came out?
-Many of the features now being included are knock-offs from older games years before.

If it is based off of financial numbers, then one could argue/debate success or failure because those type of dollars are beyond what most of us will ever make in our liftime. So such high figures are always seen as a good thing.

Also, financial numbers for Madden will always be skewed because it is based off of how many bought the product, but does not subtract those dollars back out from those who returned the product..

True success using this method should be based off of those who bought the game and still retains it until the next release.

I'm trying to think of one innovatibe thing that Madden has done that has changed football gaming.
I can't, so it's hard for me to agree with this writer and say it's a success.

# 18 statum71 @ 02/07/11 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManiacMatt1782


	Statum, I would like to see real offensive line logic, and reading the holes actually mattering. not let me get lucky in a a certain animation that lets me break a 4 man gang tackle that I have absolutely no control of. I could care less about presentation, until fundamental football is done right.

My man.....

I never said gameplay couldn't use improvement too. I just spoke for myself.

I'm sorry but miss-timed commentary, half empty stadiums in an AFC Title game, no halftime or post game reports, no sideline reporting, no stat banners, repetitve commentary and on and on....

These things kill the experience MORE for myself. Not saying by any means that people bigger on gameplay don't have a beef too. EA is big enough to have resourses to improve in all areas. We shouldn't have to pick one.

# 19 1WEiRDguy @ 02/07/11 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aholbert32


	"I'm gonna play the oldies" always cracks me up. Really? You prefer Tecmo Super Bowl over Madden 11? Really? I love Tecmo Super Bowl. I love some of the old Madden's but come on. For all the things you complain about Madden, the older games had none of them. Tecmo had 8 plays per team. 8 plays! That game was fun as hell back in the day but today it pales in comparison. The problem is back in the day we gave games a pass because they were fun. People ignored Tecmo Super Bowl's issues because it was fun. We dont give current games that kind of pass. We expect them to be supersims and get upset when they have flaws. I have a ton of issues with Madden 11 (Special Teams sucks, Broken Gameplanning, Penalties like offsides and PI still broken) and many of these have been issues for years. The reason I'm able to ignore it is because I'm willing to give it the same pass I gave games like Tecmo in the past. I dont know how anyone could enjoy Tecmo today but hate Madden unless they were holding them to a different standard.

to be honest man...i dont know ANYONE who uses more than about 10-12 plays over and over in madden...how many times have you seen someone successfully run a reverse?

my point is, quality over quanity...at least in tecmo bowl (other than the zig zag DL exploit) the other user had to pick your exact play to "blitz" you. Even with a very limited playbook, i can probably count on one hand how many times the cpu or another user guessed my play. Hell for the early version of Tecmo Bowl, they didnt even have the NFL...but they had the Players Union which let people have the names of the players.

# 20 pietasterp @ 02/07/11 06:53 PM

Well, I give Chris Sanner credit for taking on the responsibility of defending Madden to a pretty rabid sports gaming fanbase. Nothing he said in the op/ed is that controversial, frankly - without knowing the exact financials, I presume EA is happy with Madden's performance, and everyone keeps buying the game, so I assume that means they are at least semi-satisfied with it (although people buying the game doesn't necessarily mean they think the game's a success...but that's another conversation). It's true that games are held to higher standard today, but shouldn't that be the case? I mean, I think with all the processing power and advances in games in other genres, it's reasonable to hold the games to a more modern standard. But that's neither here nor there.

Whether or not Madden is a "success", however you want to define that term, for a lot of people (myself among them) the name/brand represent much of what is wrong with sports gaming in this current generation. That stigma is unlikely to go away no matter what they do, and in my mind, was stamped the day they signed the exclusivity deal and will never be erased. Once you come to it with that mind-set, it's really hard to see past anything else, even if they do a lot of good things with the game.

In the end, if people have a good time with the game, then great. There's just too much negative mojo surrounding the game for me to ever really enjoy it....not to mention, the game just bores me to death. Success? It's all in the eye of the beholder....

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