Isn't it amazing what competition will do?

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by LIGHTNING

Trees do not grow to the sky. People were saying in 1999 that the stock market would continue to go up indefinitly and today it is lower than the all time highs in 2000 and may not make new highs until well after 2015. It is easy to have expectations that the trends of the past will continue forever but that is not reality. Everything has a life and someday probably in the not too distant future Madden sales will peak and come down.

Been hearing that EA's sales are going to dip for years when it comes to Madden. Still hasn't happened. The stock market doesn't compare. It's name recognition of a retail product, like Coke, Nike or Doritos.

[NYGmen56]

Has anyone seen the difference between NBA 2K7 and NBA Live 2007?? It's a world of a difference.. 2K7 kills Live 2007! No competition.. Maybe thats why EA decided to get the Nfl licence, so that 2K sports wouldn't murder their precious Madden game.. They knew they where going to lose to 2K sports.. The NBA games are proof EA would not be able to compete with 2K sports.. Lol.. EA is a joke...

[LIGHTNING]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

Been hearing that EA's sales are going to dip for years when it comes to Madden. Still hasn't happened. The stock market doesn't compare. It's name recognition of a retail product, like Coke, Nike or Doritos.

My point is that someday Madden sales will come down and it might happen sooner than most people think. The stock market does compare because the increase in the sales of Madden is due to the secular boom in the video game industry which is similar to the secular bull market in stocks where the DOW Jones Industrial Average increased from 777 August 13, 1982 to over 11,000 in 2000. It is human psychology and behavior which can change very rapidly that causes booms and busts and popular fads like video gaming. EVERY boom is followed by a bust at some point whether it is tulip bulbs, real estate , sales of video games etc.

[Vince]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYGmen56

Has anyone seen the difference between NBA 2K7 and NBA Live 2007?? It's a world of a difference.. 2K7 kills Live 2007! No competition.. Maybe thats why EA decided to get the Nfl licence, so that 2K sports wouldn't murder their precious Madden game.. They knew they where going to lose to 2K sports.. The NBA games are proof EA would not be able to compete with 2K sports.. Lol.. EA is a joke...

It's quite clear to me at least that Live really is building their game form the ground up, similar to the transition that Triple Play Baseball made when they changed the name to MVP Baseball. Some of the physics in the Live game are a lot nicer than the 2k7 game. Anyway, I won't go into that too much, but you get my point. There's actually innovation in the NHL, NBA and Fifa games that EA is producing, whearas Madden it's preety much the same things with little improvements every year.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by LIGHTNING

My point is that someday Madden sales will come down and it might happen sooner than most people think. The stock market does compare because the increase in the sales of Madden is due to the secular boom in the video game industry which is similar to the secular bull market in stocks where the DOW Jones Industrial Average increased from 777 August 13, 1982 to over 11,000 in 2000. It is human psychology and behavior which can change very rapidly that causes booms and busts and popular fads like video gaming. EVERY boom is followed by a bust at some point whether it is tulip bulbs, real estate , sales of video games etc.

At this point, I think video games are past being a fad. You're comparing Apples to Station wagons at this point.

[Gary Armida]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYGmen56

Has anyone seen the difference between NBA 2K7 and NBA Live 2007?? It's a world of a difference.. 2K7 kills Live 2007! No competition.. Maybe thats why EA decided to get the Nfl licence, so that 2K sports wouldn't murder their precious Madden game.. They knew they where going to lose to 2K sports.. The NBA games are proof EA would not be able to compete with 2K sports.. Lol.. EA is a joke...

You lose credibility with blanket statements like this...It sounds like a kid yelling "my game is better than yours". EA got the lisense because of money. No more, no less.

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by HitDoctor

I wouldn't be surprised if they stop shipping early copies to board admins in an effort to stop pre-release hysteria.

That will NEVER happen. Pre-release hysteria is what drives this game. There are plenty of people who purchase the title only to be disappointed in it and either:

1) Sell/trade it in

2) Justify to themselves how it isn't that bad/deal with it.

Sure there are those who genuinely enjoy it.... but from every serious gamer I've spoken with, either in stores, online, whatever... they really wish the series wasn't what it is now: A good game, not great.

For an exclusive title from a mammoth like EA, especially since this title is it's bread and butter, you'd expect more out of the game.

I truly feel EA just spends an insane amount of advertising just to sell the game, moreso than to develop it. You see ads EVERYWHERE... local paper ads, TV, radio, 'net.... it's crazy.

[PlayaHataSupreme]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

You're kidding yourself. Madden will probably sell more copies next year than it did this year. People will buy Madden no matter what, even moreso now with no other football game.

Agreed.

There are thousands of 16 and 17 year old "Johnnys" in this country that go over to "Ricky's" house to play Madden only because Johnny didn't have a job and couldn't buy Madden yet.

Those "Johnnys" will be 17 and 18 and getting jobs to get a copy of Madden for their own. And Ricky most likely will still be buying Madden as well.

There are of course the people who buy Madden "just because" (which is a BIG demographic in itself), and then there are a few people who pull out from buying Madden because they are "sick of it."

The issue is this: Do you think that the "pulling out people" who are sick of Madden outweigh the teenage Johnny buying their Madden for the first time???

I don't think so.