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

[TWood2K7]

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

We will never get a good F****ing Football game from EA Until they have real legit competition. Point Blank

[EnglishGamer]

Not surprising at all!

[SteeperCheck]

I can see this coming....

[michigan21]

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

I think you are partially right, but then how do you explain how NBA2K is doing this year? I think the market and dollars are there for GOOD games, and people are simply voting with their wallets. Madden is just too bland at this point...if someone took the names off the guys, I'm not sure I could tell if I were playing this year's game or last year's game. There's no "wow" factor or pizzazz to the game. I'm personally waiting for another football epiphany like I had the first time I saw the original NFL2K in a mall game store 10 years ago. My jaw dropped and for the only time in my life, I walked into the store and bought a Dreamcast on the spot just to get that game. Maybe I'm expecting too much to think that will ever happen again, but I can't help but wonder, given the way NBA2k basically ran Live/Elite out of the market, how much better an NFL game could be out there right now if 2k were still in the game. Would Madden 11 have been canned in the face of an overwhelmingly superior NFL2k11? I guess we'll never know...

That is verbatim what happen to me when I went to the mall in 99. Babbage's had a display on with Carolina playing Tampa Bay and it was in the rain. Every step the players took made puddles. I stood there forever and was in awe of that game. Needless to say I bought a Dreamcast and the game. Still waiting for that feeling from Madden.

[pietasterp]

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

That is verbatim what happen to me when I went to the mall in 99. Babbage's had a display on with Carolina playing Tampa Bay and it was in the rain. Every step the players took made puddles. I stood there forever and was in awe of that game. Needless to say I bought a Dreamcast and the game. Still waiting for that feeling from Madden.

Word. I can tell you which mall it was to this day, too - that's how memorable it was. It was an Electronics Boutique for me, but props for bringing back the memories of Babbages (which they had one in Briarwood Mall at the time, near your school colors' campus)! I remember I went and asked the pimply-faced clerk at the desk (who was amazingly similar to the pimply-faced kid that works every minimum wage job in "The Simpsons") about the demo of NFL2K that was running in the store if that was actually a game you could play, since I honestly at first wasn't sure it was even a game...and he told me "yeah it's for Dreamcast". I was like "What the heck is Dreamcast?"...10 minutes later, I was the proud owner of a Sega Dreamcast and NFL2K. Nothing I've seen since then compares to the stunning first impression I had of that game. Maybe the first time I saw NBA2k on 360 with the sweat on the faces and jersey ripples....but that's still probably a 2nd place finisher to that glorious first look at NFL2k.

I'm waiting for that feeling again. I'm losing hope it's ever going to happen...at least not on this generation of game consoles. And not on EA's watch...

[michigan21]

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

Word. I can tell you which mall it was to this day, too - that's how memorable it was. It was an Electronics Boutique for me, but props for bringing back the memories of Babbages (which they had one in Briarwood Mall at the time, near your school colors' campus)! I remember I went and asked the pimply-faced clerk at the desk (who was amazingly similar to the pimply-faced kid that works every minimum wage job in "The Simpsons") about the demo of NFL2K that was running in the store if that was actually a game you could play, since I honestly at first wasn't sure it was even a game...and he told me "yeah it's for Dreamcast". I was like "What the heck is Dreamcast?"...10 minutes later, I was the proud owner of a Sega Dreamcast and NFL2K. Nothing I've seen since then compares to the stunning first impression I had of that game. Maybe the first time I saw NBA2k on 360 with the sweat on the faces and jersey ripples....but that's still probably a 2nd place finisher to that glorious first look at NFL2k.

I'm waiting for that feeling again. I'm losing hope it's ever going to happen...at least not on this generation of game consoles. And not on EA's watch...

Yea I bought my Dreamcast and Nfl2k from Babbage's in Jackson right down the road from AA. I played the hell out ot that game and Shenmue.

[Gordy748]

Well I think somebody at EA is aware of the problem with NFL, as much as it's a problem with a lot of their games. Hence the sudden shake-up.

Yesterday at an airport in Europe I was flicking through Game, a glossy mag this side of the pond. Their concluding review of a recent EA sports game was 7/10, concluding that the uninvolving career mode, extremely unfinished commentary and awkward gameplay were compromising factors that left the game as a major disappointment, and limited what it could have been.

You could be excused for thinking the review was for Madden, but it was actually MMA.

[tril]

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

sales are down simply because of a number of other high profile releases, and a struggling economy.
IMO year over year stats are misleading, because the marketplace was different a year ago.
People are buying less. and most peopel will buy the newer releases first.
A dip like this happens across the board. very few games hold steady.

[bears5122]

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

sales are down simply because of a number of other high profile releases, and a struggling economy.
IMO year over year stats are misleading, because the marketplace was different a year ago.
People are buying less. and most peopel will buy the newer releases first.
A dip like this happens across the board. very few games hold steady.

Not really. NBA 2K11 is on pace to double last year's sales. FIFA has seen an increase in their sales this year as well.

The economy can play a role, but not by this much. Especially when other sports are seeing increases in their sales. Fact is that if you make a good game people will buy it. Madden is just not a good game.

The company desperately needs to do to this series what it did to their NHL series.

[buckeyesfan27]

even though the sales are down since august. i still think NCAA 11 and Madden are too great Football Games. Madden Just needs some fixes. Like NCAA Game Plain would help it. because of all the unrealistic Fumbles. that happen every play. but they will keep getting better. hope EA Get the NFL once again.

[ac-greasy]

This is poetic justice. Madden has sucked since it landed on "next gen"...I for one have went from a passionate/religious annual buyer of Madden to being completely apathetic. The reality is the game sucks, it's boring and it's a glitch filled mess. I bought Madden for the PS2 this year in anticipation of it being the last playable version they will ever release and will just play that until they make the next gen version interesting and fun. Even with that version EA has found a way to ruin the experience by stripping out the online features. Way to go EA! You really do suck. I'm officially done with you until you give me a reason to get back on board.

[wsu_gb23]

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

should we be surprised with these statistics? Madden gets more boring every year. I wish they would change it. The NFL is going to have to step in and spread the license to anyone that is capable of making a decent-playing football game. Plus, an impending strike in the NFL next year definitely can't help sales.

[ac-greasy]

sales are down simply because of a number of other high profile releases, and a struggling economy.
IMO year over year stats are misleading, because the marketplace was different a year ago.
People are buying less. and most peopel will buy the newer releases first.
A dip like this happens across the board. very few games hold steady.

"sales are down simply because of a number of other high profile releases, and a struggling economy.
IMO year over year stats are misleading, because the marketplace was different a year ago.
People are buying less. and most peopel will buy the newer releases first.
A dip like this happens across the board. very few games hold steady."

Then how do you explain COD:Black Ops? 5.6 million copies sold on the first day. The truth of the matter is if you make a good game, it will sale. You can argue that COD is the same old first person shooter much like Madden is the same old football every year...but COd is fun, innovative and that franchise is not mired down in trying to fix the same old problems every year (or in EA's case, not fixing the same old problems).

[GiantBlue76]

We all saw this coming. EA got the NFL exclusive and sat on their behinds because they figured, "it's Madden, it sells itself". I know this is a fact because I spoke to a few former EA employees, and they actually confirmed this to be true. Madden has not evolved, especially compared to the sports games that are out there like NBA 2k, MLB the Show, and others. It's still missing features from last gen, and it has done nothing to innovate football gaming at all. It's 2010 and they still are struggling with commentary and online leagues. Features are incomplete (i.e. online franchise), gameplay has major issues, (collision detection, AI, etc.). EA is getting everything they deserve here. Look at the games that sell, they are incredibly realistic and they are incredibly polished. EA is taking a huge hit from the cost of the exclusive, and it has done nothing to boost their sales. Take 2/2K should be licking their chops right now, because the gamers are clamoring for something better and more realistic, just like what happened when NFL 2k5 came out. That game revolutionized football gaming. Unfortunately, Madden has not advanced any aspect of football since 2004. Nothing. They've been struggling to get things back to where they were, and they haven't even been able to do that. People are not willing to set their 65+ dollars on fire now.

[tweed420]

i wish they would let 2k make football again.