Chris' Blog: Are Madden Sales Slipping?

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by adfletch71

Madden sales use to be between 4-5 million when the next gen consoles first kicked off. They are hardly getting those sales now and its causing EA problems, because Madden use to be there flagship title, its not anymore and FIFA have took that from it. I dont see it getting any better, because more gamers are growing tired of madden and want something other than madden as a football game. The sales dont lie, we seeing a trend that is likely not going to fade anytime soon.

Soccer has world wide adoration, American football does not.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Soccer has world wide adoration, American football does not.

Odd thing about that. Fifa 05 has sold 4.5 million copies on xbox/ ps2 while Madden 05 has sold 5.9 million and NFL 2k5 has sold 3.4 million. 2 American football titles have combined to outsell the soccer game of that year 2-1.

[timberthetree]

Its not that odd at all, PES and winning eleven ran the show back than in the soccer world selling in total over 11 million

[Gordy748]

Speaking as someone that works for Sony...

Madden's sales rates aren't necessarily indicative that 11's worse than 10. The different sales between the Sony platforms follow the pattern of console ownership; more people are buying the PS3 (especially the slim version) and trading in their PS2s. PSP is hampered as a mobile gaming device by iPhone, iPad and other smartphones. Further, Madden is popular only in 1 market, USA, with very muted sales globally. USA has significant economic issues, and this has led many people to either forego 11 (whether this is a good idea or not is determined by whether you think 11's features are worth another $60) or wait for pre-owned editions to come out.

As a UK resident, I can confirm that NFL game sales are, globally, a poor second to soccer games. Personally, I greatly prefer NFL (irl and gaming), but soccer is the global ball sport du jour, while gridiron is more an American curiosity. Despite this, NFL games are the second most popular sporting game in the world (and if you look at games sales to population preference, NFL games are far ahead of soccer games).

In terms of game quality, soccer games are a good step ahead of NFL. Simple reason is that FIFA has 2 game licenses, so EA has FIFA and Konami make PES (Pro Evolution Soccer). This is good for FIFA as it means that both firms work extra hard to make their game extra immersive to steal sales away from the other. The NFL made a mistake in monopolizing its game provider, imo. There isn't an incentive for EA to make the game any better (I think Mad11 is 2 steps forward and 3 back from Mad10) so the NFL experience doesn't evolve.

On the other hand, there is no reason why EA should want to improve Madden. The company exists to sell more boxes, not better ones. Producing the best, most immersive football game just makes you less likely to buy their other boxes, like NHL, FIFA, NBA, because you're much less likely to get bored.

[kjcheezhead]

Forgot about the other soccer title, I don't play soccer games. Yeah, looks like Winning Eleven probably sold enough to even it out, (I'm not sure which version was released that year). Not sure I see anything close to 11 million tho.

http://www.vgchartz.com/worldtotals....=50&sort=Total

[timberthetree]

soccer "titles" They don't even show pc sales which made up more internationally.

[mrprice33]

Week one sales for Madden in the US (PS3 and 360 combined) are +1,045,008 compared to FIFA in the US during their first week.

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrprice33

Week one sales for Madden in the US (PS3 and 360 combined) are +1,045,008 compared to FIFA in the US during their first week.

Not sure what point you are trying to make by this. The US is obviously the country that Soccer is least popular. Afterall, we call it Soccer lol. This is no more enlightening than when people say that FIFA has outsold Madden, as every other nation besides ours, is infatuated with Football, aka Soccer.

Sales are down in Madden, but then again sales were down at this time last year and they turned around some to end up respectable. It is possible that the same thing happens again, so this is premature.

What can probably be inferred by the lackluster performance Madden titles have had recently in the first few months of release is that Madden is no longer as valued a brand to consumers as it once was, and that people are content to wait till the title is discounted to purchase it, as opposed to needing it ASAP, like they once did.