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.'�

Game: Madden NFL 11Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 61 packers718 @ 08/20/10 05:41 PM

EA is close, in an article about franchise and superstar... they say next year franchise is going to have an overhaul. Lets cross our fingers. But so far ive nearly played madden everyday since i bought it due to the fact coop online is fun as hell.

# 62 mkharsh33 @ 08/20/10 05:42 PM

There I was on midnight, standing in line...

I wish I had more self-control (my wife says the same thing...)

# 63 oldphart667 @ 08/20/10 05:51 PM

Hmmm, most on this site are older gamers that expect a darn good game of football and we will keep spending money as long as we can afford it on games. But I think most of maddens sales are to kids that do not have that spending power and have to get the money from ma and pa. And Ma and pa are cutting back and thats where they are losing the sales.

# 64 Herky @ 08/20/10 05:56 PM

This is the 1st time since 2004 that I didn't get Madden on opening day/night. I haven't even purchased it yet because franchise wasn't touched. Franchise mode has been terrible on current gen since the 1st year and it amazes me that they have not done anything to improve it. I'm going to wait for the patches to comes out, and see where the price is next month before I think about getting it.

IMO this game should have been $39.99 on the first day.

# 65 Goffs @ 08/20/10 05:57 PM

does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

# 66 pietasterp @ 08/20/10 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnoobie


	does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

I've given up on hoping that anyone else will ever make an NFL game...some beancounters over at EA have probably crunched the numbers and realized that, barring a huge increase in asking price from the NFL (unlikely as they are headed for an almost certain work stoppage in a year), it's cheaper to keep freezing out the competition with dollars than to save on exclusivity (although they'd still have to pay for the license) and try to make up the difference in increased sales (unlikely; that curve has basically plateaued). The issue at hand is that this isn't about football to EA or any game company - we're the only ones that care about that stuff. Madden is no different than a microwave or an iPod to the people that run the company. It's a product that they will maximize for profit, frequently by minimizing production resources until it starts tangibly affecting sales. I doubt we're there yet...

I also doubt that come year's end, Madden 11 will have had a serious drop-off from Madden 10. Maybe early sales are off, but in 4-5 months time I'm sure the sales will end up being equivalent. Anyway, it's way too early to read into anything after 1-2 weeks of data.

# 67 budsticky @ 08/20/10 06:12 PM

Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

# 68 mrprice33 @ 08/20/10 06:17 PM

First week numbers...

Madden 10 360-575,624
Madden 10 PS3-363,256
Total-938,880

Madden 11 360-542,803
Madden 11 PS3-445,648
Total-988,451

They're up about 23% on ps3, down about 6% on 360, up about 5% overall.

Good research on that article.

# 69 Herky @ 08/20/10 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by budsticky


	Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

I don't have a problem with patches if they fix issues. I do have a problem with not even touching certain aspects of the game. Madden back in the day used to come out in November and people still played and loved it.

# 70 Crimsontide27 @ 08/20/10 06:25 PM

There is a lot of truth here in this thread, but the economy being to blame is certainly not one of them. I can justify a video game purchase that will keep us entertained for many months, over something like taking the wife and kids to the movies once and that lasts 3 hrs.

I have been playing sports games since they came out and I do remember the excitement building every year around release time in anticipation to what new things our sports titles were going to bring to the table.

Somewhere between 05-06 that began to change.

Now Madden releases and you have to wait months for them to fix issues that have been known to exsist for years. The substitution bug in this years title...was a problem in last years title...which was also a problem in the year before thats problem...ad nausem.

People are just fed up, its nothing complicated. Madden is a poor product, its pretty simple.

I cant think of any sports franchise that I worry about whats going to be broken next year, other than Madden and NCAA. All the other sports games are coming along fine, but for whatever reason, EAs football has regressed.

Before all the EA supporter nazis jump down my throat for being a *****, there are a plethora of good titles that EA makes and I enjoy them immensely, Madden...is not one of them.

# 71 headsteez @ 08/20/10 06:36 PM

It ain't the economy . Its that Madden is getting whacker and whacker by the year. When me and my boys can think back about previous installments that let us get closer to the game then we can get now with this so called next gen era, its a big problem. Little things equal more then any of the gimmick slogans ever will. We as a society always want and will be entertained, so money is not the main factor. Its that we have more ways to spend our money now. Dlc wasn't any option ten years ago. I could by Madden but, I can also buy map packs for Cod or the other games that are good also. I have tons more ways to spend my hard earned money now than ten years ago. Data plans for phones, netflix, gamefly, movies, and tons more stuff to. Madden aint getting $60 bucks with that deeper, faster garbage. Show me a great franchise mode. Show me a on-line franchise mode thats not stripped down. Better on field game-play and animations. Then u can get my $60 bucks. Stop running away from the main problems by thinking of the causal user. The causal user is just a follower of the hardcore player. If the hardcore player will live and die by the game, than the masses will follow.

# 72 happymadison @ 08/20/10 07:08 PM

hopefully the NFL will take notice of the declining sales of madden the past few years and see that EA isn't getting the job done having the exclusive license and not give EA or anyone else the exclusive license when the contract is up, there needs to be competition.

# 73 Radja @ 08/20/10 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markprior22


	This is the first year I wasn't even the least bit tempted to buy Madden. I am an offline franchise player and the franchise mode is going to need quite an upgrade to pull me back in.

THIS!!!!! ^^^^^

i read no franchise updates and i decided i can continue my madden 10 'chise.

# 74 Radja @ 08/20/10 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flamehead


	Based on the reviews the NHL demo is getting, it certainly looks that way. Meh, I think the author is too eager to produce a cause and effect with Madden sales numbers and what might happen with the game industry in general. How about "Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Madden?" Of course, Peter Moore and Co. will look at this as more evidence that the game needs to be "simplified" further. Much easier to believe you've overcomplicated it rather than produced a game more people are becoming disenchanted with because you're not responding to repeated community requests and instead implementing changes no one asked for.

the gaming industry needs to start innovating enough for us to merit spending $60 for more than a couple more race tracks or a couple more moves in a game or slightly better visuals. years ago tomb raider lost it's core audience when the third versions only real upgrade was the levels became almost impossible.

the hardcore have for several years been the parakeet in the coal mine saying madden needs to fix the game play first. the casual are finally catching on too.

the ea ceo can spin it any way he wants. the metacritic score is the proof.

# 75 rooney8 @ 08/20/10 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrprice33


	First week numbers... Madden 10 360-575,624 Madden 10 PS3-363,256 Total-938,880 Madden 11 360-542,803 Madden 11 PS3-445,648 Total-988,451 They're up about 23% on ps3, down about 6% on 360, up about 5% overall. Good research on that article.

Sarcasim and research fail for you i'm afraid mate. Article FTW.
Those numbers for Madden10 are for two days sales and the numbers for Madden11 are for five days sales.

�Madden NFL 10� takes the top spot on this week�s worldwide chart, with over 1.25 million units sold in the first two days of release. The platform breakdown is as follows (note this is worldwide figures, but of course the majority of Madden sales occur in the US):

Overall, first week Madden sales are down 23% from last year, but much of this difference comes from the fact that Madden 09 released on a Wednesday so had 4 days of sales in the tracking period whereas Madden 10 released on a Friday and only had two. Comparing directly to the first two days of sale last year, Madden is actually only down 12% year on year.

As you can all see the numbers from M11 to M10 are bad and to M09 are awful even though M11 had an extra day. So all those (roadman, Only1LT) who needed proof I hope this will satisfy. Madden11 sales are terrible lets continue to celebrate and hope this will change the arcade approach to sim, sim, sim.

# 76 frankstallone83 @ 08/20/10 07:54 PM

Don't put too much hope in the NFL - they love exclusive deals and their ego is enormous. They threatened to sue a church a few years ago b/c they charged 5$ (for expenses) to a "Super Bowl Party." (no joke: http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/01/n...ings-to-blame/)

Basically they're going to do what is most profitable - hopefully that could work out in our interest but I won't hold my breath.

# 77 mrprice33 @ 08/20/10 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rooney8


	Sarcasim and research fail for you i'm afraid mate. Article FTW. Those numbers for Madden10 are for two days sales and the numbers for Madden11 are for five days sales. �Madden NFL 10� takes the top spot on this week�s worldwide chart, with over 1.25 million units sold in the first two days of release. The platform breakdown is as follows (note this is worldwide figures, but of course the majority of Madden sales occur in the US): Overall, first week Madden sales are down 23% from last year, but much of this difference comes from the fact that Madden 09 released on a Wednesday so had 4 days of sales in the tracking period whereas Madden 10 released on a Friday and only had two. Comparing directly to the first two days of sale last year, Madden is actually only down 12% year on year. As you can all see the numbers from M11 to M10 are bad and to M09 are awful even though M11 had an extra day. So all those (roadman, Only1LT) who needed proof I hope this will satisfy. Madden11 sales are terrible lets continue to celebrate and hope this will change the arcade approach to sim, sim, sim.

For now then I guess we'll just have to wait to see whether or not the first 2 week or first month sales match up. If not, then fine, sales are down.

Yay?

# 78 stead21 @ 08/20/10 08:38 PM

Oh well, karma is a biyah.

# 79 infamyice @ 08/20/10 08:47 PM

I wouldn't even say there's trouble in the gaming industry because it's Madden by it-self. There's no other Football franchise except EA, and I'm not happy about that, cause I'm a big 2k Football gamer. Granted 2k owned Madden in almost everyway possible, but nobody want to play the same Franchise game year after year without a chance to exile the previous year(s). JMO

# 80 Exonerated @ 08/20/10 08:48 PM

blame your government lol. for the economy. so ea can blame the government.

If Madden was still 60 and your income went up by 10%, madden sales would be rising.

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