Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[edaddy]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

I agree with seemingly everyone else, it's not a weakening industry, it's just a stale game. It's the exact same game as last year, but franchise mode is worse, and locomotion is cool but not worth $65.

I agree with this sentiment..While I thought Madden 10 was definent step in the right direction it seems to have stalled..I mean the broadcast presentaion was minimal and the actual gameplay is exactly the same..player models and all...I will say it again we dont know what type of restrictions Ian is placed or if there is evene any at all but the feeling that I am getting from others as that it's just a stale newly painted copy of Madden 10. I really am not seeing locomotion make a difference and Pro-Tak the one feature I loved last year seems to have taken a step back..I am seeing more and more one on one tackles...All of these factors plus to an extent the economy will lead to dwindling sales..People are wary about what they purchase now and putting out less than quality games or rehashed editions will one day bite you in the but..ask UFC..lol..I went out on a limb this year for the first time in years and bought Madden even though I didnt like the demo..I had faith that this thing ws turned around,...needless to say it's now traded in towards credit for NBA 2K11...NCAA wil hold me over this year..as it's made a improvement but I cant just take that leap of faith anymore with Madden Ian and the crew...so like others it will prob go back to rental status for me next year...I hope that NCAA continues to take leaps foward but maybe this was all a master plan to get NCAA sales up with the real concentration going to Maden next year..hmmmmmmm

[packers718]

EA is close, in an article about franchise and superstar... they say next year franchise is going to have an overhaul. Lets cross our fingers. But so far ive nearly played madden everyday since i bought it due to the fact coop online is fun as hell.

[mkharsh33]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

There I was on midnight, standing in line...

I wish I had more self-control (my wife says the same thing...)

[oldphart667]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Hmmm, most on this site are older gamers that expect a darn good game of football and we will keep spending money as long as we can afford it on games. But I think most of maddens sales are to kids that do not have that spending power and have to get the money from ma and pa. And Ma and pa are cutting back and thats where they are losing the sales.

[Peter_OS]

I for one didn't pick this game up, and will wait for the price to drop. I'm just getting tired of the Madden series to be honest. and also the fact that the franchise mode was left the same, and no changes were made, has turned me away from a purchase.

[Herky]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

This is the 1st time since 2004 that I didn't get Madden on opening day/night. I haven't even purchased it yet because franchise wasn't touched. Franchise mode has been terrible on current gen since the 1st year and it amazes me that they have not done anything to improve it. I'm going to wait for the patches to comes out, and see where the price is next month before I think about getting it.

IMO this game should have been $39.99 on the first day.

[Goffs]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

[bulls23]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Wait wait wait! It took a real low in the NHL series a few years ago and a strong push from NHL2K on the market for EA to come with innovations and the EASHL to make NHL2k irrelevant to the hockey gamers.

Since the market limits aren't yet reach, EA is still working really hard to get the best hockey game and get customers to buy the game. They are pushing harder this year and I guess that NHL 12 will also be a gem.

I don't think that EA NHL and NFL games are in the same boat at all. Madden cannot have a push in the back other than a drop in sales, and until further evidence, there's nothing so far saying it's the case.

True, just look at how much NBA Elite is trying to improve with the juggernaut of NBA 2k.

[pietasterp]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

does this mean that they will no longer have NFL license exclusivity? i would love to see another football game from 2k...hell even from SONY!

I've given up on hoping that anyone else will ever make an NFL game...some beancounters over at EA have probably crunched the numbers and realized that, barring a huge increase in asking price from the NFL (unlikely as they are headed for an almost certain work stoppage in a year), it's cheaper to keep freezing out the competition with dollars than to save on exclusivity (although they'd still have to pay for the license) and try to make up the difference in increased sales (unlikely; that curve has basically plateaued). The issue at hand is that this isn't about football to EA or any game company - we're the only ones that care about that stuff. Madden is no different than a microwave or an iPod to the people that run the company. It's a product that they will maximize for profit, frequently by minimizing production resources until it starts tangibly affecting sales. I doubt we're there yet...

I also doubt that come year's end, Madden 11 will have had a serious drop-off from Madden 10. Maybe early sales are off, but in 4-5 months time I'm sure the sales will end up being equivalent. Anyway, it's way too early to read into anything after 1-2 weeks of data.

[budsticky]

Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

[mrprice33]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

First week numbers...

Madden 10 360-575,624
Madden 10 PS3-363,256
Total-938,880

Madden 11 360-542,803
Madden 11 PS3-445,648
Total-988,451

They're up about 23% on ps3, down about 6% on 360, up about 5% overall.

Good research on that article.

[Herky]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

Let's see here. EA releases a game every year that has problems and needs to go through two patches before it is fully playable and the bugs are fixed. Usually the second patch hits sometime in December as the football season is winding down. I can't imagine why people have stopped buying the game..especially early on.

I don't have a problem with patches if they fix issues. I do have a problem with not even touching certain aspects of the game. Madden back in the day used to come out in November and people still played and loved it.

[Crimsontide27]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

There is a lot of truth here in this thread, but the economy being to blame is certainly not one of them. I can justify a video game purchase that will keep us entertained for many months, over something like taking the wife and kids to the movies once and that lasts 3 hrs.

I have been playing sports games since they came out and I do remember the excitement building every year around release time in anticipation to what new things our sports titles were going to bring to the table.

Somewhere between 05-06 that began to change.

Now Madden releases and you have to wait months for them to fix issues that have been known to exsist for years. The substitution bug in this years title...was a problem in last years title...which was also a problem in the year before thats problem...ad nausem.

People are just fed up, its nothing complicated. Madden is a poor product, its pretty simple.

I cant think of any sports franchise that I worry about whats going to be broken next year, other than Madden and NCAA. All the other sports games are coming along fine, but for whatever reason, EAs football has regressed.

Before all the EA supporter nazis jump down my throat for being a *****, there are a plethora of good titles that EA makes and I enjoy them immensely, Madden...is not one of them.

[headsteez]

It ain't the economy . Its that Madden is getting whacker and whacker by the year. When me and my boys can think back about previous installments that let us get closer to the game then we can get now with this so called next gen era, its a big problem. Little things equal more then any of the gimmick slogans ever will. We as a society always want and will be entertained, so money is not the main factor. Its that we have more ways to spend our money now. Dlc wasn't any option ten years ago. I could by Madden but, I can also buy map packs for Cod or the other games that are good also. I have tons more ways to spend my hard earned money now than ten years ago. Data plans for phones, netflix, gamefly, movies, and tons more stuff to. Madden aint getting $60 bucks with that deeper, faster garbage. Show me a great franchise mode. Show me a on-line franchise mode thats not stripped down. Better on field game-play and animations. Then u can get my $60 bucks. Stop running away from the main problems by thinking of the causal user. The causal user is just a follower of the hardcore player. If the hardcore player will live and die by the game, than the masses will follow.

[happymadison]

Re: Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

hopefully the NFL will take notice of the declining sales of madden the past few years and see that EA isn't getting the job done having the exclusive license and not give EA or anyone else the exclusive license when the contract is up, there needs to be competition.