Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y in October

[greenieblue]

"year over year" literally means nothing. Unless you consider the progression of time as some sort of stack or, possibly, linear. Even then, what year over what year? Nevertheless, it's nonsense. So it's easy to see how the article that informs this article can lead to confusion.

The reason that this is worrisome is that the reason we are in this situation is a lack of competition. If EA goes away, guess what? We have problems.

[dcsoldier]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

I'm not surprised.... Since only EA can make/publish NFL games there is NO competition which means less need to be innovative. Instead of making a great game year after year, they can make a mediocre one and throw in some menu changes and a few tweaks here and there and they "have a new game". I mean how long did it take for them to realize players weren't able to catch balls going to the sidelines? A fix for it costs 49.99 (Madden 11)

omg thats true...such a simple feature and we had to wait all this time to get it meanwhile nfl 2k5 had in and the game came out 7 years ago. how long did it take them to put towels in the game? lol i think we've been asking for that for years as well. dreads, towels, sideline catches, diving over the pile was big back in the day....took a long time to get that, half sacks and assisted tackles, the list goes on and on.....no wonder hardly anyone like the game.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

I think one of the down falls of the Marketing Department is they seem to make the madden team add stuff into the game they think fans would love to have. But they failed at that. Another example of how the Marketing has failed EA in the last few years on madden is Josh Looman. When they brought Josh Looman in the Madden Department. Josh main focus was at first was going to be the franchise mode. But that quickly failed when they changed Josh job from working completely on franchise mode to working on this MUT stuff. I understand some people enjoy MUT and all. But that is not what Josh was brought in for. Josh was one of the leading guys who worked on HC 09 and made it's franchise mode on HC 09 a big success. That is why he was brought in. To work on Madden franchise mode. But yet the Marketing Department change that around quickly and made him work on something like MUT that is completely worthless in my eyes. I felt we as fans was lied to by EA on the reason Josh was brought into madden in the first place. His job was to work on Franchise mode and to make it much better. Now 2 years later and franchise mode is still the same. I really hope that madden crew does something big franchise mode this year. Atleast that would be a good step in the right direction for the madden serias for 2011 coming up.

[DangerDanjo]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

Why build a Rolls Royce when people will buy a Yugo for the same price?

[bpd115]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

Well tonight I traded both NCAA and Madden in. That was by far the earliest I've ever dumped the games. I finished one season in NCAA and Madden sucked so bad I couldn't finish one year in franchise.

I found NCAA had a decent on field game but both franchises felt stale. With Madden's obvious gravitation to the arcade/online gamer I just had enough.

With a young family my gaming time is limited and NBA 2K11 is dominating that time. That was the final nail in EA's foot all coffin with me.

Out with NCAA/Madden in with **** Yarn & Donkey Kong Country Returns.

EA Sports needs to take a hard look at what VC did with NBA 2K.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

Well tonight I traded both NCAA and Madden in. That was by far the earliest I've ever dumped the games. I finished one season in NCAA and Madden sucked so bad I couldn't finish one year in franchise.

I found NCAA had a decent on field game but both franchises felt stale. With Madden's obvious gravitation to the arcade/online gamer I just had enough.

With a young family my gaming time is limited and NBA 2K11 is dominating that time. That was the final nail in EA's foot all coffin with me.

Out with NCAA/Madden in with **** Yarn & Donkey Kong Country Returns.

EA Sports needs to take a hard look at what VC did with NBA 2K.

I still play my madden 11 time from time. I like madden 11 still. It's just they need to look this as a whole. EA wants to gain more fans for madden. The best way of doing that is going back to their roots of madden they had in the past. That's how they sold so many maddens to fans each year back years ago. But EA has screwed up big time with trying new things instead of improving the old ways and making it better. That goes for gameplay,franchise mode , and presentation aswell. If they would stop trying to invent new things to add into madden year after year. Just go back to their roots that started this all. Then maybe they would get back their hardcore fans and new ones aswell. EA is trying to hard. EA needs to take a step back and take alook around and find out what works best and stick with it. Listening to the fans completely and use fans ideas the best way they can in a one year cycle would help their sales and more.

[Aggies7]

As I posted in the poll thread Madden needs to cater to the hardcore football fans and cut the year to year gimmicks.

And instead of Madden moments for DLC why not add downloadable commentary and cut scenes for pre and post game so the game doesn't go stale.

[PantherBeast_OS]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

As I posted in the poll thread Madden needs to cater to the hardcore football fans and cut the year to year gimmicks.

And instead of Madden moments for DLC why not add downloadable commentary and cut scenes for pre and post game so the game doesn't go stale.

I completely agree on the gimmicks need to be gone from the game. The time for gimmicks have gone. I"m one of those Hardcore gamers of 19 years who has played madden. I still play madden 11 time from time. I can see why EA is doing things with gimmicks to bring in new fans to game. They must know they are lossing their hardcore fans aswell in the process aswell. Why they maybe bring in new fans. They are lossing more faithful yearly fans then bring in new ones. That's why their sales are way down on madden 11. Because hardcare fans refuse to buy it anymore until EA makes hugh changes. I see myself buying extra commentary and cut scenes for pregame and post game and all. But I much wheather see them stop with the Gimmicks and with MUT and DLC stuff and go back to basics. Fix the current gameplay and make the franchise mode much much deeper then it is currently is and fix the presentation and make it somewhat better. Anything above that would nice nice. But those 3 main areas need the most attention this coming year to win back fans and Hardcore fans at that.

[dcsoldier]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

i've joined OS about 2 months ago however ive been reading OS for a few years now and i must honestly say that i have never seen madden fans so P/O about the game.....every year there is always a bunch of people that seem to stick by the game but now i see that crowd is no longer the majority as a matter of fact its actually an unpopular choice these days to be defending madden knowing how many things are actually wrong with the game.

not to be negative at all but IMO i see the game go straight in the ***** within the next couple of years.....especially if 2k gets the license.

[Palo20]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

I still think real simulation of the sport sells. I can't stand soccer, but I'm willing to give FIFA a chance because I hear about how realistic the gameplay is.

Master the game of football and Madden will sell.

[l3ulvl]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

I think one of the down falls of the Marketing Department is they seem to make the madden team add stuff into the game they think fans would love to have. But they failed at that. Another example of how the Marketing has failed EA in the last few years on madden is Josh Looman. When they brought Josh Looman in the Madden Department. Josh main focus was at first was going to be the franchise mode. But that quickly failed when they changed Josh job from working completely on franchise mode to working on this MUT stuff. I understand some people enjoy MUT and all. But that is not what Josh was brought in for. Josh was one of the leading guys who worked on HC 09 and made it's franchise mode on HC 09 a big success. That is why he was brought in. To work on Madden franchise mode. But yet the Marketing Department change that around quickly and made him work on something like MUT that is completely worthless in my eyes. I felt we as fans was lied to by EA on the reason Josh was brought into madden in the first place. His job was to work on Franchise mode and to make it much better. Now 2 years later and franchise mode is still the same. I really hope that madden crew does something big franchise mode this year. Atleast that would be a good step in the right direction for the madden serias for 2011 coming up.

I never knew that. I posted earlier suggesting they'll wreck franchise mode with their focus next year, but if they do a HC '09 style offseason I'd definitely be interested.

[mestevo]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

This is spin for a headline. The original thread was predicated on early reduced pricing by some retailers at release trying to surmise that sales were down, when it's a common practice to have day 1 sales, and prices went back to normal making the entire premise incorrect.

How much of this 18% is still PS2 falloff? There's almost 200k missing units right there YOY using vgchartz data, and they're not going to come close to last year's 900k on that platform.

Also, it's an article about October NPD, I don't see what isn't clear about Madden's YOY or they'd cite an Activision statement for context, the source is still NPD's October data.

Like the first article, this is more a flashy headline than anything of substance.

[dcsoldier]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

This is spin for a headline. The original thread was predicated on early reduced pricing by some retailers at release trying to surmise that sales were down, when it's a common practice to have day 1 sales, and prices went back to normal making the entire premise incorrect.

How much of this 18% is still PS2 falloff? There's almost 200k missing units right there YOY using vgchartz data, and they're not going to come close to last year's 900k on that platform.

Also, it's an article about October NPD, I don't see what isn't clear about Madden's YOY or they'd cite an Activision statement for context, the source is still NPD's October data.

Like the first article, this is more a flashy headline than anything of substance.

i don't understand why people don't believe that madden sales are and have been down. when EA ceo comes out during a stock-holders conference and states his disappointment with madden's sale numbers over the last two years and has to look to fifa and medal of honor to save face i do believe that there is enough substance to support the article.

[PVarck31]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

There are so many factors in play here, but the whole simplifying the game just baffles me. What is there to simplify? My 12 year old daughter who has never played a football game in her life can surely learn to push a button to pick a play, push a button to snap the ball, and push a button to throw to a receiver. Oh wait, she doesn't have to pick a play anymore.

Maybe this will be the kick in the pants EA needs. There are so many things that the other sports titles of this generation do that Madden doesn't. Just listen to us for once. We can help you make your sales skyrocket. Stop giving us what you think we want and give us what we do want. Trust me EA, your sales will go through the roof if you do this. 2k Sports built NBA2k11 on that very concept, and look what its done for them. Its a really simple and effective business model in my opinion.

[dcsoldier]

Re: Madden Sales Down 18% Y-o-Y from last year

There are so many factors in play here, but the whole simplifying the game just baffles me. What is there to simplify? My 12 year old daughter who has never played a football game in her life can surely learn to push a button to pick a play, push a button to snap the ball, and push a button to throw to a receiver. Oh wait, she doesn't have to pick a play anymore.

Maybe this will be the kick in the pants EA needs. There are so many things that the other sports titles of this generation do that Madden doesn't. Just listen to us for once. We can help you make your sales skyrocket. Stop giving us what you think we want and give us what we do want. Trust me EA, your sales will go through the roof if you do this. 2k Sports built NBA2k11 on that very concept, and look what its done for them. Its a really simple and effective business model in my opinion.

very well said