Is Madden the answer this year for football gaming?

[scoonie05]

If that was the case why can't 2k sports come up with the money?? Lol

[balcobomber25]

Well first off 2ksports its just a development studio. Take Two Interactive would have to purchase it. Given Take Two's recent financial instability I doubt they would commit that kind of money, not to mention they are still paying about 20 mil a season for the MLB license.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by balcobomber25

EA is losing money far beyond the 300 million. Factor in the money lost from sales of Triple Play Baseball. And now you can add NBA Elite to that as well. The same developers who worked on NFL 2k5 are the same ones who have made NBA 2k into one of the best sports games period. There is already speculation that EA shareholders want out of this deal. The NFL approached them at the end of the last year wanting EA to continue the deal for a number of years and EA would only commit to one extra year (through 2013). Don't be surprised if some other company comes along and pays the NFL exactly what they want. That company probably wont be Take Two either, don't be surprised if its someone like Activision-Blizzard or THQ. Sorry to all you EA fanboys but the NFL doesn't care what game is out as long as they are getting their money.

This is ludicrous. EA is NOT losing money on Madden and they generally make lots of money. EA pays about $60 million per year for the license but they also sell roughly 6 million copies every year as well (across all platforms). That's $10 per game for the license. It's not that much more than they were paying initially for license fees. If I was EA I would want to rework that deal too since I bounced the competition out of the market place and EA knows they could lower the offer and still beat anyone. But Madden is still an automatic huge profit for EA.

There is no question the NFL only cares about money. They have proven that with every TV and licensing deal. But I doubt any other company out there would have the money to beat out EA in a bidding war which means EA will be in charge of any NFL console game for awhile.

[pinksheets]

If another publisher ponied up the cash for the license, oh well. I'm not saying Madden is terrible, it's a solid game, but with how disappointing certain aspects have been, I can't say I'd really mind giving a whole new game franchise a try. I think that scenario is entirely unlikely, but I'm not going to be upset if it happens.

[balcobomber25]

I dont even know where to start with this. Its rife with inaccuracy. So EA hasn't lost any money from not being able to sell a baseball game and for their NBA game being a complete disaster?? EA sold over 1.5 million copies of MVP Baseball in 2005, the last year they had the license. If you reread my post it doesn't say anything about EA losing money on Madden, but more the company as a whole. According to Forbes.com EA had total sales of $3.77 billion and total profits of -$.175 billion, meaning they lost money so far this year. As of the end of last year EA's stock was down 68% since 2007. They have been steadily losing money every year since 2006.


Id like to know where you got your numbers for the statement "It's not that much more than they were paying initially for license fees".
According to every industry expert who spoke on that matter in 2005 it was significantly higher than the fees initially were. EA even said they paid a premium to get the exclusive deal. The NFL didn't just hand it over to EA, they accepted bids by all companies and EA outbid everyone by almost $200 million. Take Two was the next closest bidder with just over $100 million.


And your final statement "But I doubt any other company out there would have the money to beat out EA in a bidding war" Again you might wanna check your numbers before you make bold statements such as this. Activision-Blizzard, Sony, Microsoft are all much larger companies than EA with much more capital.

This is all speculation though, you never know what is going to happen a few years down the road.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by balcobomber25

I dont even know where to start with this. Its rife with inaccuracy. So EA hasn't lost any money from not being able to sell a baseball game and for their NBA game being a complete disaster?? EA sold over 1.5 million copies of MVP Baseball in 2005, the last year they had the license. If you reread my post it doesn't say anything about EA losing money on Madden, but more the company as a whole. According to Forbes.com EA had total sales of $3.77 billion and total profits of -$.175 billion, meaning they lost money so far this year. As of the end of last year EA's stock was down 68% since 2007. They have been steadily losing money every year since 2006. Id like to know where you got your numbers for the statement "It's not that much more than they were paying initially for license fees". According to every industry expert who spoke on that matter in 2005 it was significantly higher than the fees initially were. EA even said they paid a premium to get the exclusive deal. The NFL didn't just hand it over to EA, they accepted bids by all companies and EA outbid everyone by almost $200 million. Take Two was the next closest bidder with just over $100 million. And your final statement "But I doubt any other company out there would have the money to beat out EA in a bidding war" Again you might wanna check your numbers before you make bold statements such as this. Activision-Blizzard, Sony, Microsoft are all much larger companies than EA with much more capital. This is all speculation though, you never know what is going to happen a few years down the road.

So, with Battlefield, FIFA(more copies FIFA sold worldwide than Madden), NHL and Madden, EA may have a chance of breaking even or maybe making a profit, correct?

I'm sure there are other companies that have lost profits since 2007, not just EA. Times are tough all over. Although, the people who want to see EA lose profits are the one's who quickly point out it's the quality of the games, not the tough times we are in.

I'd say it's a mixture of both.

[balcobomber25]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

So, with Battlefield, FIFA(more copies FIFA sold worldwide than Madden), NHL and Madden, EA may have a chance of breaking even or maybe making a profit, correct? I'm sure there are other companies that have lost profits since 2007, not just EA. Times are tough all over. Although, the people who want to see EA lose profits are the one's who quickly point out it's the quality of the games, not the tough times we are in. I'd say it's a mixture of both.

No they wont, they are still projected to lose money for the 4th quarter of 2011. Those releases will lessen it but they will still lose money nonetheless. Number of copies sold is only a small piece of the pie, for instance FIFA may sell more than Madden but it also costs twice as much to develop, advertise, and distribute. EA also pays licensing fees to both FIFA and individual clubs. In the end the profit difference between Madden and FIFA isn't as great as some make it out to be.

Not every company is losing money Activision Blizzard, Zenimax (Bethesda) and SCE (Sony games) all turned a profit last year.

Don't get me wrong I'm not one of the anti-EA haters on here, NHL 11 is one of my favorite games of all time and I would give anything to have MVP baseball back.