How will the (apparent) ESPN price drop affect Madden?

[GTheorenHobbes]

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brahmagoul said:
If the ESPN game has improved from its flaws of last year, the game could very well sell more copies than Madden. I don't think it will hurt Madden drastically, but will help ESPN a lot. Many people will buy ESPN instead, while some may buy both now. A lot of guys I know who love Madden were really disappointed with last year's game. But regardless of sales, the ESPN game has to be really good with significant improvements from last year, for the game to build any momentum going into the new platforms coming up. Regardless of Madden being a collector's edition on PS2, a $60 price will deter some buyers regardless of ESPN's lower price.

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With the right marketing (i.e., great TV commercials, in-store demos), this game could sell HUGE numbers at a $20 price point. If half the EB's and Gamestops around the county have this game playing in their store windows come August, with a big 'ol $19.99 ESPN sign hanging right below the monitor, there really is no telling how many copies VC could sell. Why wouldn't people want to play something that looks this good, especially when it has a no-risk price tag of $20?

Madden should also still sell a boatload of copies. But I'm really curious to see if EA will have the balls to stick with their $49.99 Mfr. list price for Madden this year.

[Dallasin2K3]

I don't think the ESPN drop will affect madden's sales more than a few percent.

What it will do is boost ESPN's sales like no other, though. You will see the Maddenites picking up ESPN along with Madden because it's 20 bucks.. they play it.. most like it.. and hey, maybe a lot of them come back next year.. This was an excellent move by SEGA but odds are EA will not feel the hit until next year's games come out. There's no telling how many Madden-devoted people pick the game up 'cause it's got a nice pricetag and then end up dumping EA for Sega in future years.

[Triggerfish]

Next year is a whole different story....xbox2 and next generation consoles mean new madden and espn engine? Whole new ballgame. Maybe EA develops on the xbox platform...At least the price drop will make people more aware of ESPN..competition is good for us in the end anyway.

[GTheorenHobbes]

If Sega does close the gap at all this year or next, it will be interesting to see if EA brings in a new team to work on the next generation of Madden. Tiburon hasn't exactly been lighting the world on fire over the past couple years, unless you're really into the Owners Mode and Playmaker/Hitstick stuff.

If Tiburon couldn't get more out of this generation's graphics, what makes anyone so sure they'd whoop up on the competitors when it came time to the next generation's graphics? Actually, maybe Microsoft is already working on the next generation's graphics for Fever and will be the one that blows both ESPN and Madden away in a couple of years. You just never know.

[brahmagoul]

Regardless, I don't see how anyone wouldn't be smiling about this. If it puts pressure on EA to lower their price great. A trend that saw video games drop $10 would be great for the consumer. ESPN won't make more money than Madden just because of the price differences and all. Outselling them is realistic. Think of how most people buying a football game will randomly go to a store when football season comes up, see both games and the price difference. They'll look at ESPN to make sure it's not really bad looking and probably get that instead. Most people that play football video games aren't die hard "I'm a Madden loyaltist" or "ESPN forever" type of gamer.

[Victory]

I loved Madden back in its early days. We had great fun playing it in college. I disliked the game in the late '90s. It seemed to me that graphics (and stuff that goes along with it like individualized touchdown celebrations) was all Madden (and most other sports titles) cared about. Yes, it improved it graphics during that time probably faster than at any point as they went from pixels to triangles. But gameplay suffered. In my opinion it was less realistic than in ever had been. I got Madden 99 for PC. I played my first game using the default Super Bowl rematch between the Packers and Broncos. I didn't control the players. I just called plays. 80% of the plays went for 5 yard losses. 20% went for about 25 yard gains. Once I found the money plays the game was easy. I couldn't not use them because ALL the non-money plays were crap. Once I realized this getting Dorsey Levans 1000 yards rushing before the first quarter ended was the only challenge. I did that. Then I quit the game and never felt the desire to play it agian. When I read the reviews of NCAA 2000 I could tell something was different. I got it for the Playstation. It was the first one Tiburon did. I liked that game a lot. It was worlds better. IMO, Tiburon put life back into a flailing title when they did Madden for 2001. I can see the argument for a change though. The engine has stagnated. Maybe a change can be as refreshing as the last change was.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Good post Victory

[lordsin]

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Victory said:
Once I found the money plays the game was easy. I couldn't not use them because ALL the non-money plays were crap.

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Great post, and this is probably the most frustrating part of all.