[bassiladelph]

Quote: Originally Posted by coogrfan

Guys, the football gaming market is finite, there are only so many people who are going to buy a football title. If you added up all the console football games sold each year by the various publishers for the last 4-5 years, you would get a figure that didn't change much from year to year. Last year would probably be an exception, the price drop for 2k5 meant that a lot more football titles were sold than previous years (but since a lot of those additional sales were to Madden gamers who decided to try 2k5, the total number of football gamers probably didn't change very much). To expect EA to increase launch sales by a million or more units is unrealistic, because the number of hardcore football gamers hasn't changed.

And that's the point of the exclusive license - since EA has to answer to their shareholders, would they be making enough money in sales to warrant an exclusive license? Obviously some 2K5 people bought Madden, but like mentioned before, there were some that bought both, and I'm not sure if that was factored in (I mean, unless you're psychic, how can you?), plus you'd expect the #s to go up anyway, now that the PSP is out, and there are people willing to buy the PSP and PS2 versions, among other platforms.

You could even say that other exclusive licenses - such as the PGA and NASCAR - are helping to offset the NFL one (minimally), if you're looking at the big picture. But this deal won't show any benefit in the short term. I doubt this deal was specifically designed for making a profit this year. If Madden wants to be the premier next-gen football title, this was the way to do it.

In any event, I'm not touting the death of EA (and even if I think their move was good business, as a gamer I think it's crap). I'll wait and see the #s over a couple of years before I say anything. This is a long term investment, and any smart business move usually doesn't show great returns immediately. SO while I wait, I'll sit and play 2K5.