Madden 09: Make or Break Season

[ChaseB]

One problem with this theory--sales of the next-gen versions were up last year, not down. The decline in overall sales was due to the drastic drop off in last gen sales (which to the best of my knowledge was not plagued by the gameplay issues that were present on the 360/ps3).

2007: http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?...r=Last+Updated

2008: http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?...r=Last+Updated

For this reason, I'm skeptical about this "make or break" stuff.

Just FYI, vgchartz is not very reliable. But yes your point is still solid.

[coogrfan]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

Just FYI, vgchartz is not very reliable. But yes your point is still solid.

Yeah, their exact numbers should be taken with a large grain of salt. They are mainly useful as an indicator of general sales trends.

[pf8363]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

The more i think about it the more i realize that Madden 09 has to be great for me to continue buying their product. Madden 08 was not nearly as bad as you would think it was by looking at this forum but it was my least favorite madden title of the last 10 years, easy.

I remember a time when madden, Nhl, and NBA live were all amazing titles, hopefully EA can get back to their roots...

while madden and nba live are dreadful, i think the nhl series is at its best. it got my vote for sports game of the year

[jsou4646]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

2k5 is still the best game out there

[Pared]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

We'll all be hyped into 09 after the NFL Draft in April and the game will be one of the most anticipated game on the boards from now until release, book it.

You know what? I can't help but point to the boards being a determining factor on whether or not they purchase the game here. Am I stating the obvious? Maybe, but there's a reason why I bring this point up.

What good is it "waiting until some get the game here" when most of the people who get the game early are typically the ones who enjoy it regardless?

Some of the early impressions from people here were the game was FANTASTIC! AMAZING! WOW, SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR!

.....ok? The minute someone who gets the game and says otherwise they're called a troll or some other stupid name. From all the hype everyone generates on the boards early on, how can anyone expect the game to exceed/fail those expectations? There isn't any balance or level headed impressions early on...

Eh, I guess I'm just ranting now. The game has promise but the attention to details is something the Madden series just doesn't have. Love the Browns unis last year... makes you wonder if these guys are NFL football fans, or just video game fans.

[yvesdereuter]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

Even if the sales are sagging only because of a reduction in current gen, it still has to be a concern. It means people arent converting to next gen and games like Madden lacking quality might be one of the reasons.

And actually, I think the drop off in sales that the Wall Street Journal reported was for year end March 2007...so it would have been the year before, not this past year. Maybe Im wrong on that. In any case, a sad irony in all this is that if you kill the competition, you have to be careful of that all the air doesnt leave the balloon. When you have more competition you have more people keeping the balloon full of air and so if one company slacks off, the overall things are buoyed by having someone else. EA needs to be careful.

The game sucked in so many ways. Its sad to see people try to pinpoint the biggest problem, there were so many and the game is different things to different people. If they just focus on one thing, you have no reason to think something else wont be sacrificed. The game really is at a similar point to where Triple Play was at before they switched over to MVP.

Another irony is that when they market or hype the game as they did last year (it seemed like the release was mentioned all over the place), you get the attention of a lot of people but when the game is a disaster, eveyone knows it. EA needs to stop letting their marketing department run things.

[STLRams]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

The last few Maddens including 08 were not good sim football games, period. This exclusive crap stinks. I will rent Madden 09 first before I buy it. I haven't bought a Madden game since 05, I've just rented them first to test them out. What was the point of getting this exlusive NFL contract, and EA having access to all the NFL footage and info and things like that, and they don't use this stuff to its potential in there games. Improve the TV broadcast, nobody likes that damn radio annoucer, improve the gameplay, make it a sim football game, fix the bugs, make the game realistic EA. If you think about it thought, why should they? There the only NFL game out, the madden droids will still buy the game no matter what, espically when EA start releasing those Madden 09 hype commericals and those Madden previews from IGN,Gamespot, etc and say like they always do every year - this is gonna be the best Madden ever, they have really improved, yeah right. Guys don't believe the hype. I really hope Madden 09 is better, but I have to rent it first, I can't be a Madden droid and buy it day one.

[The Bimmer]

As of right this minute, I aint buyin' until they start supplin' some presentation, gamplay, etc......

[gr18]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

I think Madden 08 for the 360 was very good minus the sim stat probs that Madden games have had.Granted this year was a little worse.Also,obviously the turnover issues and bugs shouldn't have been there.Testing goes a long way.Especially when some tweaking was evident after playing a game or two.

[mastershake88]

how is it a make or break year when your the only company with an "exclusive license" and you can afford to sit back with the same game every year. which what was proclaimed by game trailers, 1up.com and any other pro madden site that is payed or bribed to give good reviews.

so make or break? listen its hard to look behind at who is no.2 when your purposly made yourself the only person to be no.1.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

Madden + sole ownership of NFL License= Never a Make or Break Season

IMO, Madden 08 on the 360 was a fun game

[Oldschool17]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

Even if the sales are sagging only because of a reduction in current gen, it still has to be a concern. It means people arent converting to next gen and games like Madden lacking quality might be one of the reasons.

And actually, I think the drop off in sales that the Wall Street Journal reported was for year end March 2007...so it would have been the year before, not this past year. Maybe Im wrong on that. In any case, a sad irony in all this is that if you kill the competition, you have to be careful of that all the air doesnt leave the balloon. When you have more competition you have more people keeping the balloon full of air and so if one company slacks off, the overall things are buoyed by having someone else. EA needs to be careful.

The game sucked in so many ways. Its sad to see people try to pinpoint the biggest problem, there were so many and the game is different things to different people. If they just focus on one thing, you have no reason to think something else wont be sacrificed. The game really is at a similar point to where Triple Play was at before they switched over to MVP.

Another irony is that when they market or hype the game as they did last year (it seemed like the release was mentioned all over the place), you get the attention of a lot of people but when the game is a disaster, eveyone knows it. EA needs to stop letting their marketing department run things.

I don't disagree with what your saying but the only problem with your logic is your assuming EA has taken the approach that their product has been a failure when its likely quite the contrary. Alot of people are happy with Madden and the next gen sales numbers show that...I don't expect EA or Tiburon to have any feeling of make or break or that they need to drastically improve things

I only wish they felt that way. A comparison to Madden and the Triple Play series is not a good comparison AT ALL...TP was disastrous. Some may argue that Madden 2008 was disastrous but I'd counter their claim with the fact that Madden as a whole is still a decent game JUST not what many of us thought we'd be seeing and playing 4-5 years into next gen gaming

EA is nowhere near pushing the panic button on Madden

[Oldschool17]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

If the author's correct seems like fixing the game's bugs and adding some presentation aspects is what Madden needs to do to be considered turning the corner, that seems like a relatively low bar to have to jump over. Expecting gameplay depth, innovation, x's and o's really mattering - that's perhaps a little much right now.

But let's say they trip again - what difference is it going to make? NOW would be the point where reviewers become indignant? After happily endorsing it/giving out 8+'s the past few years, and 9+'s as long as I can remember last gen? I can't wait to see IGN or TeamXbox explain their score again btw. I don't see how Metacritic reviews can be damned because that's what Peter Moore is using to validate Madden's quality - not any dip in sales. And EA's done a great job of insulating themselves. They have no true competition; they're about to put another bullet in 2K's head since they didn't die the first time (like Kill Bill); they just reupped the NFL license guaranteeing they'll be the only football developer even beyond the launch of the NextXbox & PS4. The time for the gaming media to step up was in '06 or '07. Day late dollar short.

This year will be like all the others - people will cross their fingers and hope EA delivers. If not, they'll wait until [next] year. Hope for the best, but expect the worst. With such low expectations it's hard to fail.

Excellent points...agreed on all levels

And lets all stop fooling ourselves...Naturral Motion and Euphoria will be lucky to see the light of day even after the Ps3 and 360...We are nowhere close to any major changes in Madden...They will add the old stuff...tweak a few minor things then MARKET the hell outta the game all on their way to selling more copies than they did last year...CHA CHING!$!$!$!

The avg Madden player will be happy and content while the Madden connoisseurs and hardcore gamers will once again be disappointed and left with hopes of Madden 2010

[Oldschool17]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

I can't be a Madden droid and buy it day one.

What you fail to realize is there are some of us who bought consoles specifically for sports..Then there are those of us who pretty much live for football...This means Madden is pretty much a day one purchase NO MATTER WHAT...Just like 2k was a DAY ONE Purchase NO MATTER WHAT...Now does my purchase alone ,ean I'll be happy with the game...hell no...I don't even own a copy of Madden 2008 right now because I'm disgusted with the game play...But comments like droids are just ignorant when you don't acknowledge the fact that real, true football fans just need their NFL, NCAA fix.

[gr18]

Re: Madden 09: Make or Break Season

When people say they disliked the gameplay I take it they mean they were frustrated with the sliders and more directly the turnover issue.

I've never been a big Madden apologist but I find the gameplay is very good and much improved in recent years other than that.

Presentation and bugs that should've been fixed with proper testing are really the keys to putting out a product that people will find satisfying.