Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[wco81]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Can't blame it on the poor economy - The metacritic user score (5.4) says it all. OUCH!

Economy has to have something to do with it.

The price cuts will spur sales and that should tell them something.

[PH1LLYSFINEST13]

They know what that have to do. We all know and publicly say what is wrong with the game. The defense the tackles the offense. Fix the franchise. I am really hoping for a big jump in the next madden. Personally , I bought all the other EA games and skipped out on madden so lets see what they do next year. Step up EA

[REDRZA]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Hopefully the masses are tired of the lackluster effort this team has put forth year after year, and also the Peter Moore "casual" direction. Hopefully declining or stagnant sales means a better product for us.

[RaychelSnr]

Based on the reviews the NHL demo is getting, it certainly looks that way.

Meh, I think the author is too eager to produce a cause and effect with Madden sales numbers and what *might* happen with the game industry in general. How about "Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Madden?"

Of course, Peter Moore and Co. will look at this as more evidence that the game needs to be "simplified" further. Much easier to believe you've overcomplicated it rather than produced a game more people are becoming disenchanted with because you're not responding to repeated community requests and instead implementing changes no one asked for.

Game industry sales are down to flat this year overall, depending on your source. That's not a good sign in ANY industry. With one of the yearly staples likely not doing well at all, that's just not good news for the industry as a whole. The guy CNBC quoted is usually pretty good at forecasting these types of things in the gaming industry.

I still think AAA titles will do just fine, but if you have a game like, say, NBA Elite or something just as niche, you'd better hope you have a lot of quality because the sales might not come otherwise. Talked about this on my blog earlier this week:

http://www.operationsports.com/MMChrisS/blog/9575-deteriorating-economy-spells-trouble-for-game-developers/

With us beginning another leg down or recession in an ongoing depression, there has been a secular shift in the economy away from spending on things like games. Just how it is when you are worried about keeping your house, cars, etc. It's not unlike the '30s, Hollywood had to go through a similar situation then.

[DaReapa]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Meh, I think the author is too eager to produce a cause and effect with Madden sales numbers and what *might* happen with the game industry in general. How about "Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Madden?"

Of course, Peter Moore and Co. will look at this as more evidence that the game needs to be "simplified" further. Much easier to believe you've overcomplicated it rather than produced a game more people are becoming disenchanted with because you're not responding to repeated community requests and instead implementing changes no one asked for.

Spot on m'man. I haven't purchased a Madden game since Madden 06, and don't see that changing soon. The problem I have with media related articles such as this is that it misleads the general public from the truth that Madden has become (or IMO, has been) a stale franchise surviving off gimmicks and an aggressive marketing campaign.

[RaychelSnr]

Economy has to have something to do with it.

The price cuts will spur sales and that should tell them something.

The economy has a large chunk to do with it.

However, swaldo is right in the basic sense that users aren't up on Madden. But I think the economy is a huge factor in people expecting more bang for their buck, so games are under a bigger microscope. That plus the yearly release game being on for well over a decade basically spells two things: 1)Gamers expect more than what they'll ever get from a yearly release, creating a deadly trap for developers/publishers and 2)People aren't paying $60 for new games that aren't worth it anymore.

[NEWYORICAN]

$60.00 + is just too much for a sports video game that dosn't change much. They are going to have to lower their prices on sports games. I say bring it down to $35.00 to $40.00.

peace

[RaychelSnr]

$60.00 + is just too much for a sports video game that dosn't change much. They are going to have to lower their prices on sports games. I say bring it down to $35.00 to $40.00.

peace

Lowering prices to $40 and releasing a game every other year would probably be a wash on the ol' corporate balance sheet when DLC is added in as a stopgap measure. Just saying

[NEWYORICAN]

Lowering prices to $40 and releasing a game every other year would probably be a wash on the ol' corporate balance sheet when DLC is added in as a stopgap measure. Just saying

lol, you got that right MMChirs! good old Corporate greed!!..lol

peace

[CYST2000]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Most people bought the game yearly with anticipation of a new roster seeing as how the gameplay was already fine to most people. Now we buy the game hoping it is better than the year before. When you keep buying a game hoping it is better than the year before and find it is slightly better but broken in different places it is discouraging and makes you bitter for the company that has promised better but delivered the same thing (a broken game).

[gamerkid421]

man ea better bring it next year with madden 12..

[HokieB]

All my friends have dubbed Madden "the same game every year" and stopped buying a while ago. It's not like they are hating on Madden (they aren't passionate enough about it to "hate" on it). They would simply buy Madden every year out of habit, come to realize that it's not that different from the previous year, and simply stop buying it. And terms like Pro-tak, Locomotion, Gameflow, et al have not peeked their interest in the slightest. They'd never really taken issue with the gameplay or anything -- they just got bored with it.

Madden's actually becoming kind of a joke in my circle. "Are you getting the new Madden this year? I heard you can change the color of your shoes!"

[Step2001]

Gameplay is always going to have it's faults. It's Franchise mode that keeps people playing this game. I would think that would cover all sports games.
Playing Franchise mode put's you on the Owner/G.M./Head Coach/Players seat. Everyone wants to take there team to the Super Bowl. That's what it's all about Offline or Online.

Reading allot of write-ups on Madden 11 and untouched Franchise mode was always brought up.

Even people who had not followed the news over the last few months on Madden were let down. Mentioning how they could not wait to get into Franchise mode and start rolling with there team. Then to be told that it was the same as last year, total deflation.

I know the dev team is good, they just need to vbe given the leeway to make the game they want. Because that's the game we all want as supporters of the Madden Franchise.

You build, they'll buy it, Guaranteed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bxgoods]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Its way too early to judge like the article even says itself, I remember they said the same thing last year, and Madden 10 winded up selling more than 09.

[Dollar Theater]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

First year since the late 90's I didn't buy Madden. The demo felt flat, and I rented it from Blockbuster, played it twice, and took it back. Same ol, same ol. Hopefully weak sales will force them to revolutionize the product. The FIFA and NHL teams understand that, and that's why their games get better and better, despite already being the best-reviewed sports games available.