Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

[Ueauvan]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

id prefer a PC version of Madden here in the UK, then again i like franchise and playing as coach. i have 2 copies of 08 on pc, one on my desktop and the other on laptop with all the frenzy mods. methinks ea wont do it because the mods blow away the standard game

and given the USA's stellar performance last night may change perceptions of soccer in the US. was it right that Soldier Field was full watching it?

[aholbert32]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

What are you sources? Keeping in mind PC sales are notoriously hard to source given most these days are online sales like Steam, and they tend to keep sales figures pretty guarded.

The only thing we have to go on is sites like Video Game Chartz which isnt 100% accurate but they are never hundreds of thousands off the actual number. Its all that we have to go on because the NPD doesnt release numbers anymore but I dont think anyone here has an evidence to dispute those numbers.

Again even if you dispute those numbers what no one here has been able to tell me is why EA would ignore a market that they could make a profit? Lets say what people are arguing is correct and im wrong:

- The game would be relatively cheap to produce/port on pc.
- There is a significant market in the US who buys PC games.
- The other sports games are selling hundreds of thousands on PC.

Why would EA not release the game on PC and make a profit. This would go counter to EVERYTHING we know about EA. When have they ever not done something that would make them a profit?

[aholbert32]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

id prefer a PC version of Madden here in the UK, then again i like franchise and playing as coach. i have 2 copies of 08 on pc, one on my desktop and the other on laptop with all the frenzy mods. methinks ea wont do it because the mods blow away the standard game

and given the USA's stellar performance last night may change perceptions of soccer in the US. was it right that Soldier Field was full watching it?

Why doesnt EA care about the thousands of mods on Fifa which is a more popular game than Madden?

[Brother3Wright]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

Andrew Wilson (Current CEO of EA) answers this question for the most part in "Reader Questions for EA CEO Andrew Wilson" by Polygon last November. (Just search for it on Youtube. He talks about the topic starting at 5:50)


To paraphrase, EA doesn't want to just "port" the console version of a game over to PC. He also states that besides FIFA the major player-base for sports games are playing them on console/mobile.

[bucky60]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

Now what does that tell us? A couple of things. 1) Madden's PC first week sales were under 77k. 2) The sales of Madden PC likely didnt increase after that since most games sales numbers dont rise after the first week. 3) That Madden PC's numbers were minuscule compared to the consoles. (360: 900k, PS2: 650k).

You missed a very important point.
4) Madden 08 PC was really Madden 07 360 with updated rosters. I'm pretty sure that had a great deal of affect on PC sales vs console sales. If you wanted the latest Madden, you got the console version. You really can't compare PC and console sales because you really are comparing apples to oranges. If PC got the same love and attention as the console, then you would be comparing apples and apples.

[Flamehead]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

Just a reminder that the pc versions of Madden were based on, or equivalent to, the PS2 and Xbox versions, not the current Gen systems of the time. Of course most of the market will go with the consoles when they are perceived as the superior versions, or at least built on the latest hardware.

To imply the versions were equivalent and in the same breath say "we'll, the pc version just isn't as popular" is misleading. When the pc version is built the same as the consoles and we can compare apples to apples, THEN let's see how popular the pc version really is. Right now it's apples to oranges.

Edit, bucky and I posted the same thing at the same time, lol.

[roadman]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

I was a PC user back in the day and once the PC version was bought and modded, it played much better than the console versions.

If I had a gaming PC rig, I'd purchase Madden quicker than an eyelash.

[aholbert32]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

You missed a very important point.
4) Madden 08 PC was really Madden 07 360 with updated rosters. I'm pretty sure that had a great deal of affect on PC sales vs console sales. If you wanted the latest Madden, you got the console version. You really can't compare PC and console sales because you really are comparing apples to oranges. If PC got the same love and attention as the console, then you would be comparing apples and apples.

Show me a PC sports game that is selling even a quarter of what its console brethren are in the US. The NBA 2k series (until next gen started in Nov.) is the same version on PC and on last gen consoles (except for custom soundtracks). Same with Fifa. Same with PES. These games all get the "same love" as the console versions and they arent selling in the US. So you dont have the "well it wasnt the same version of the game" argument for those games and those are the only non-text AAA sports titles on the PC.

FYI, Fifa and PES's next games will be the same as the next gen version.

OS members always overestimate how important they are to the market. Most people dont know mods are available for PC games. Most sports fans dont want to deal with the hassle of ensuring that your cpu is compatible with a pc game to get it to run a top quality when they dont have to worry about that with a console. ****, even people who know about mods dont always want to install them because the process can be difficult at times.

Dont get me wrong. I love sports games on the PC. I used to mod the hell out of the NBA Live and PES series. I would probably go back to PC gaming if I was willing to spend the money on a Gaming PC. I just recognize that the sales arent there in the US for sports games and thats what matters to EA when there is no international market for a sport.

[Hooe]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

The only caveat I'd say is that I don't think sales figures from Steam or EA Origin are reported to anyone except the developers; NBA 2K is on Steam and FIFA is on EA Origin, so the numbers from VGChartz probably are somewhat off.

That said, my guess is that the difference isn't really substantial enough to change the crux of the issue, that sports games in general don't sell in the United States on PC. I'm not sure I've ever seen NBA 2K on the best-sellers list for PC on Steam, for example.

[Flamehead]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

These games all get the "same love" as the console versions and they arent selling in the US. So you dont have the "well it wasnt the same version of the game" argument for those games

But hasn't your argument been that there isn't a market substantial enough to justify Madden on PC? Our point is that if the PC did get the "same love" as the console versions, then there just might be a substantial enough market regardless of the console sales numbers.

Agree to disagree I guess.

[aholbert32]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

But hasn't your argument been that there isn't a market substantial enough to justify Madden on PC? Our point is that if the PC did get the "same love" as the console versions, then there just might be a substantial enough market regardless of the console sales numbers.

Agree to disagree I guess.

My post supported that argument. I just gave you three recent sports games that got the "same love" and they arent selling in the US on PC. Fifa and 2k are the #2 and #3 selling sports games in the US and they cant do significant PC numbers in the US. Why would we assume Madden would be different?

[Flamehead]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

Why would we assume Madden would be different?

One might assume Madden would be different because the NFL is more popular in the US than those other sports, and if given the "same love" as the consoles, would have a large enough market share to warrant it.

[RACZILLA]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

I got all fired up just looking at this thread. If I could pick just one thing related to the Madden franchise that I'd most like to see, it would be a PC version of the game.

I agree with the notion that PC players would be better served by something built specifically for them as opposed to a console port. It could be a different revenue model, price point, etc. and maybe even a different feature set. Ideally they'd do something that's more of a sustained project with regular updates as opposed to the annual boxed product like what we see for console.

I know the PC community could do all sorts of stuff with the right set of tools and FWIW I think there's a lot of opportunity here. The PC landscape has changed drastically since the time we last saw a Madden title on PC.

[aholbert32]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

One might assume Madden would be different because the NFL is more popular in the US than those other sports, and if given the "same love" as the consoles, would have a large enough market share to warrant it.

Thats a heck of an assumption. Again OSers always argue that EA is all about the money and that EA doesnt waste an opportunity to generate revenue. If thats the case and the market was really there, EA would release the game on PC. The market is there internationally and they release FIFA on PC every year.

The safer assumption is that EA's looked in to this and doesnt think the market is there. That assumption is supported by the comments EA has stated over the past few years about Madden on PC.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Why Is Madden Still Not Available On PC At This Point?

I got all fired up just looking at this thread. If I could pick just one thing related to the Madden franchise that I'd most like to see, it would be a PC version of the game.

I agree with the notion that PC players would be better served by something built specifically for them as opposed to a console port. It could be a different revenue model, price point, etc. and maybe even a different feature set. Ideally they'd do something that's more of a sustained project with regular updates as opposed to the annual boxed product like what we see for console.

I know the PC community could do all sorts of stuff with the right set of tools and FWIW I think there's a lot of opportunity here. The PC landscape has changed drastically since the time we last saw a Madden title on PC.

I agree with this post entirely. The only madden I ever bought for the PC was Madden 99 and it was, HANDS DOWN, the best Madden I ever played. It was not the same as the console versions. Better graphics, better online, had online franchise, had all kinds of bells and whistles. I'd be willing to jump ship from the console if it meant getting a much better game than what we have now, but on the PC. Hell, I'd even buy a new PC if it meant I could have a really high quality football title again.