Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

[Steve_OS]

Videogamer has the scoop.

"US sales figures for August compiled by the NPD group have been released, and it'll be great reading for Electronic Arts. The top three selling games for the month are Madden NFL 09 on 360 (1 million), PS3 (643k) and PS2 (424.5k) respectively. Madden NFL 09 on the Wii took ninth place with 115.8k units sold.

Other games performing well in August included the Wii trio of Wii Fit (394.9K), Mario Kart (328.7K) and Wii Play (200.2K), SoulCalibur IV on Xbox 360 (174K), Xbox 360 exclusive Too Human (168.2K) and Guitar Hero: On Tour for Nintendo DS (111.2K)."

[GTheorenHobbes]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I said it in another thread but it probably deserves repeating here, Madden's sales are up a whopping 2% over last year. That includes guys like me who bought into the hype and thought that this would be the year Madden would be greatly improved. It's an okay game, but they've still got a long ways to go. They won't get my money so easily next year, I can tell you that right now.

[backbreaker]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I said it in another thread but it probably deserves repeating here, Madden's sales are up a whopping 2% over last year. That includes guys like me who bought into the hype and thought that this would be the year Madden would be greatly improved. It's an okay game, but they've still got a long ways to go. They won't get my money so easily next year, I can tell you that right now.

I'm in the same boat as you. I thought the 20th anniversary would have brought us a great football game, but its average at best. I got the game very early from a mom and pop and my eagerness got the best of me. I think they should spend less time marketing and more time producing/designing.

[jbrew2411]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

Football is the #1 sport in America so use fans of the game that are gamers have to have a football game. I'm one of thoses guys who have to have NCAA and Madden is a wait and see thing. I held out last year like a top pick in the draft but this year I used some points I had from a credit card and got Madden for free and have played it al of 3 hours. I will just wait on the patch like everyone else while EA gets to count me in there sale numbers. I'm a fool.

[sois]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

News like this should make us feel lucky to have Ian and co. They don't have to do ANYTHING and they still dominate in sales. I wish some people would realize this.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

News like this should make us feel lucky to have Ian and co. They don't have to do ANYTHING and they still dominate in sales. I wish some people would realize this.

Are you kidding? Another year or two of flat sales, and EA/Tiburon can probably kiss the exclusive NFL license goodbye. I'm grateful Ian's around, and it sounds like he might finally have the train on the right track (after 4 wasted years on the next gen consoles), but they need us as much (if not more) than we need them.

[sois]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

Slight increases or even flat sales in this market is a win. In case you haven't notices, our economy is in a recession.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I said it in another thread but it probably deserves repeating here, Madden's sales are up a whopping 2% over last year. That includes guys like me who bought into the hype and thought that this would be the year Madden would be greatly improved. It's an okay game, but they've still got a long ways to go. They won't get my money so easily next year, I can tell you that right now.

A 2% increase probably means a lot more money than last year though. Many more copies have been sold of the next gen variety which get $10 more than the past gen games. Even if the sales stayed the same, EA made more money.

Are you kidding? Another year or two of flat sales, and EA/Tiburon can probably kiss the exclusive NFL license goodbye.

It's far too early to be drinking this heavily. EA has a stranglehold on the NFL license and they won't be losing it any time soon. Who else can guarantee that kind of revenue based on millions of sales of a video game?

[GTheorenHobbes]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

It's far too early to be drinking this heavily. EA has a stranglehold on the NFL license and they won't be losing it any time soon. Who else can guarantee that kind of revenue based on millions of sales of a video game?

The NFL used to collect royalties from the sale of at least 3 licensed NFL games (Madden, 2k and Blitz). Many of the folks who used to buy 2k still do not buy Madden, as evidenced by the relatively flat sales. So now, the NFL gets royalties from 1 game. It would seem to me that sooner or later, someone at the NFL is going to figure this out. Unless EA pays soooo much for the exclusive that it makes it worthwhile for the NFL, which we don't know since it's never been publicly revealed (to my knowledge). But if that's the case, the relatively flat sales will catch up to EA sooner or later...and come to think of it, we've already seen EA's profit numbers take a dive the last 2 years.

[Earl1963]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I traded mine in a couple days ago. I had a hard time staying awake while playing it despite how good it is. There were a lot of used ones there too.

[renojedi]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I will just wait on the patch like everyone else while EA gets to count me in there sale numbers. I'm a fool.

Don't feel too bad on this one, bud. I made the same comment last year thinking '08 would be the best yet. Then the fumble bug followed by the free agent bug that actually killed franchises last year popped up. We ended up waiting for patches for those into November. This year I promised myself no Madden until the bugs are patched. Hopefully it won't be into November again.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

The NFL used to collect royalties from the sale of at least 3 licensed NFL games (Madden, 2k and Blitz). Many of the folks who used to buy 2k still do not buy Madden, as evidenced by the relatively flat sales. So now, the NFL gets royalties from 1 game. It would seem to me that sooner or later, someone at the NFL is going to figure this out. Unless EA pays soooo much for the exclusive that it makes it worthwhile for the NFL, which we don't know since it's never been publicly revealed (to my knowledge). But if that's the case, the relatively flat sales will catch up to EA sooner or later...and come to think of it, we've already seen EA's profit numbers take a dive the last 2 years.

I think the numbers were released generally speaking ($300 million over 5 years initially - http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/comm...column_gaming/). The NFL gets at least $60 million per year from this deal which nobody else could come close to paying. The NFL loves exclusive deals like this for some reason. The 2K games (before the $20 price shocker for 2K5) never sold more than 400,000 copies if I remember correctly. Blitz probably did OK but Madden usually sells over 4,000,000 copies across all of its platforms. Nobody else comes close and since the NFL made almost all of its money off the EA football games, it was an easy decision to go exclusive. Even if it meant pissing off a good amount of hardcore football fans.

Hockey, basketball and baseball aren't like football in that each competitor has a sizeable chunk of the market and the overall money involved isn't nearly as big. I think the NFL is happy to death with this deal while I also think it cut into EA's profit margins pretty well. If anyone walks away from this deal it would be EA. But they will continue to sell 4 million copies across all platforms with no competition. Its doubtful they would walk away from that even if it costs them almost $15 per game. They were probably paying close to $10 a game before the exclusive deal (just a guess on my part) so this deal only cost EA an extra $5 per game to kill its competition. It's still a cash cow no matter what.

[Heelfan71]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

Are you kidding? Another year or two of flat sales, and EA/Tiburon can probably kiss the exclusive NFL license goodbye. I'm grateful Ian's around, and it sounds like he might finally have the train on the right track (after 4 wasted years on the next gen consoles), but they need us as much (if not more) than we need them.

THose numbers are not flat sales at all. And most people (including me) that I have talked to think this years is the best Madden to date. EA doesn't need us here either. The people at OS are a small fraction of the total sales.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

THose numbers are not flat sales at all. And most people (including me) that I have talked to think this years is the best Madden to date. EA doesn't need us here either. The people at OS are a small fraction of the total sales.

You don't think a 2% increase over last year's numbers is "flat"? What would be? 0 or 1%? I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Re: Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

I think the NFL is happy to death with this deal while I also think it cut into EA's profit margins pretty well. If anyone walks away from this deal it would be EA. But they will continue to sell 4 million copies across all platforms with no competition. Its doubtful they would walk away from that even if it costs them almost $15 per game. They were probably paying close to $10 a game before the exclusive deal (just a guess on my part) so this deal only cost EA an extra $5 per game to kill its competition. It's still a cash cow no matter what.

Remember, EA just reported a net loss for the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year of USD $ 95 million. Whether they're happy with the exclusive or not, EA's paying for it through the nose...and sooner or later, the stockholders are gonna be upset. When that happens, the people who negotiated the exclusive are going to be on the street.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ea-reports-net-loss-of-95m-for-q1