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

[PVarck31]

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

i wish they would let 2k make football again.

I know this is how many feel. But there is no reason to keep bringing it up. Its not gonna happen until at least 2012. Right now we need to make our voice heard. In the most respectful way of course. If we keep pushing for them to listen to us, make them have no other choice but to listen to us, we can change this thing.

[DaveDQ]

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.

What's so disheartening is football gaming (NFL in particular) is so big for sports gaming. It just shouldn't be like this, where we are in such a stale state right now. We are going to go a full generation of consoles with a blah taste for NFL football and that's really a shame.

[delspf]

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

They havent got a dime out of me for a few years now.
Same stale product for too long, its about time sales dropped.

Franchise failure + sim engine bugs year in year out = no $$ from me...also stopping production on the PC? ha

[reddogmaddogbul]

Madden is a complete failure.Ea I hope you guys are listening.I didnt buy the game this year and I tell everyone I game with about yall shady business practices,The things you guys are doing will start to spread like wild fire,and by that time it will be too late to win back broken trust.

[jmurphy31]

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

The way I look at this is simple. Make the game realistic and geared toward the Sim Crowd. Add the bells and whistles (presentation, sportscenter highlights, etc) to increase re-playability... If the Sim crowd likes it, word of mouth will spread that Madden is good and more people will buy it. For example, I don't ever buy shooting games, but a few of my friends who play them a lot recommend one or two a year to me and I end up buying at least one.

Also, I have said this before in another post. It is MUCH cheaper, thus more profitable, to retain current customers than attract new ones. If EA maintained their customers from 2005 and kept catering to them, I belioeve thre sales would have easily increased due to the drop of 2k series. Think about it...You keep your entire market and imprive on a game they enjoy and I am positive you will attract most of the 2k crowd just based on the NFL License alone..

[grunt]

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

I don't take any pleasure in Madden decline in quality of sales. The blame has to be shared with the NFL and their quasi-monopolistic practices. I also blame T2 for not putting out a complete, customizable football game. There is enough blame to go around.

My fear is sport gaming we knew it, is gone. Less titles equal less quality titles over the long run. My hope is next generation PSN/XBOX Live will pick up the slack with smaller developers will produce quality sport games.

Madden developers just put out a podcast. I can't even listen to the podcast. As a customer I am tired of the same excuses and broken promises. I have been a member at OS for over 10 years and that song and dance is just too old.

[funnygunny]

lol...sales are down coz it sucks. pretty simple. now since theyre finally realising that putting out the same game every year with a roster update is no longer fooling the fans, hopefully they will make a better game. start taking notes from nba 2k11.

[Tyrant8RDFL]

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

They need to look at the Show and NBA 2k11...those titles are moving. They're sim. If they go arcade, they won't help things. I hope they realize this.

Besides, I thought Peter Moore was gonna "monetize" us by now? With this and NBA elite, and NHL 11 being disappointing...and NCAA being never enough to drive the sports division- is the board of directors gonna make a move? I think at some point, a change higher than Phil Frazier is coming.

defintely 2 solid titles to look at and learn from, but they do look at those titles and even play. They still don't grasp it completely.

I have said this NUMEROUS times. The engine they use is very glitchy , and is not to friendly. It makes it very tough for them to nail a all around solid football game.

EA change the engine.

Agreed.

I can see why EA tries to take this approach with Madden, and while the game has improved, it doesn't have a unified focus and it shows in the final product.

I've grown tired of comparing Madden to other sports games, but it seems games like NBA2K have a singular focus: to be the most authentic NBA game down to the very fine details. That includes gameplay, presentation, atmosphere, everything.

Madden tries to be everything to everybody, and while I see what they're attempting to do, no one is completely satisfied. It doesn't work.

I agree Madden has improved, but not enough to bring out that inner addiction in us to continue playing the game for months.

I know this is how many feel. But there is no reason to keep bringing it up. Its not gonna happen until at least 2012. Right now we need to make our voice heard. In the most respectful way of course. If we keep pushing for them to listen to us, make them have no other choice but to listen to us, we can change this thing.

Honestly what your asking has been done for years, and still they don't truly listen.

They came to this forum two years ago. Got a huge wish list. A great list, and had us all hyped up on what was going to be in the game, and how it was greatly improved. How they listened to us, and thanked everyone for being involved.

Then the game came out, and it was a HUGE disappointment. They do not listen, and if they really did. They would not be in this situation.

I agree 2k needs to make a football game again. Hopefully in 2012 this can be a reality.

[12]

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

This isnt surprising. When I heard that EA was going to neglect Franchise Mode this year, that was it for me. I bought NCAA instead and haven't regretted it a bit. My brother let me borrow Madden for a week and a played two games and was done. The game is just stale and needs a complete overhaul. Most people are loyal and are going to continue to buy the game. I am loyal as well but you're also going to earn my hard earned money and Madden hasn't done that in a while now.

Hopefully next year is different. Get this game on a sim level, much like NBA2K11 and The Show, and watch your sales rebound. I won't return to this title until that happens.

[12]

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

Maybe I am dead wrong but I also don't buy the "economy sucks" excuse. Real gamers are going to find a way to put together $65 bones to buy a game they love. Madden just isn't on that level anymore. I'm not saying that the economy is irrelevant when looking at Madden sales, but I think it's very minimal. Look at other titles such as 2K11 and The Show, or Black Ops. No economy argument there.

[DaveDQ]

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

I don't take any pleasure in Madden decline in quality of sales. The blame has to be shared with the NFL and their quasi-monopolistic practices. I also blame T2 for not putting out a complete, customizable football game. There is enough blame to go around.

My fear is sport gaming we knew it, is gone. Less titles equal less quality titles over the long run. My hope is next generation PSN/XBOX Live will pick up the slack with smaller developers will produce quality sport games.

Madden developers just put out a podcast. I can't even listen to the podcast. As a customer I am tired of the same excuses and broken promises. I have been a member at OS for over 10 years and that song and dance is just too old.

I agree with this. I feel the same about how ridiculous it is with DirectTV and the NFL as I do with EA and the NFL. Then they patronize me with the Redzone offer. The NFL could follow what the MLB is doing with MLB.tv..but no.

Maybe I am dead wrong but I also don't buy the "economy sucks" excuse. Real gamers are going to find a way to put together $65 bones to buy a game they love. Madden just isn't on that level anymore. I'm not saying that the economy is irrelevant when looking at Madden sales, but I think it's very minimal. Look at other titles such as 2K11 and The Show, or Black Ops. No economy argument there.

You're right. Blaming the economy just doesn't cut it. Why did Madden sell so well out of the gate? That was just a few months ago. Right now games like COD and NBA 2K have a very strong reputation and that is a huge catapult when purchase time comes along. Like you said, real gamers are going to find ways to purchase what they truly want. Heck, look at the success Kinect is having. Consumers pay for what they want, and the EA team would look like fools standing before their superiors blaming the economy. Consumers simply don't have the motivation to go get Madden.

This is where things can become even more frustrating. Given EA's history with this title, what will be there philosophy to garner sales for next year? Are they going to say, "Well, we better start putting together a more sim experience so we can sell more copies..." or will they reach in their pocket and pull out the latest gizmo?

[shyvoodoo]

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

Everybody like always have good opinions thats why I like OS so much.

Heres my take on the situation:
You have a dev team, IMO, that 1) Dont have the talent and know how to develop a complete sports game and/or 2) Dont watch football AT ALL to know what a good football game should have. I think these guys feel like the game should play like a NFL Highlight show. Nothing but big plays, less on strategy, easily accessible and severely dummied down. 70,80, heck 90 TD passes are the NORM in this game. Drives lasting less than 2 minutes, ect

The game is geared to people who have the attention span of a TV commercial. They talk about how a game should be fast and that not everyone wants to play a game for an hour. Well geniuses thats why we have been BEGGING you for in game saves AGAIN like we had in the last gen. Thats the biggest problem with this game, it does not have the features that the last gen games had. I popped in Madden 2005 and my god its like "this is the game we SHOULD have in this generation". Madden is far from that.

Somebody brought up the point about comparing The Show and NBA 2k11 to Madden is nonsense. Madden gets the sales it get from being the only game in town. Do you honestly think that Madden would be getting these sales if it was not for the exclusive license?? Think about that!! Furthermore, I think sports gamers is trying to tell EA "Look, sim SELLS!!". There was a thread about NBA 2k11 on whose buying the game. How many of those people bought the game JUST BECAUSE OF THE IMMERSION LEVEL FROM THE PRESENTATION SIDE. There were gamers who did not even BUY basketball games buying the game this year.. I was one of them.

EA in general is arrogant also. If your "marketing" department has a say in your product, then you have the most piss poor marketers in the whole industry. It likens to having country music stars running workshops on how to rap!!! I dont think ANYBODY in the company knows anything about the sport aside from the sportscenter highlights they watch, let alone on how to present it in a game.

One more thing, the whole cosmetic of the game makes me sick!! Examples:
1. You cant play the cpu because it does some of the dumbest things that you dont even see in pee wee games. What team goes for it on 4th down inside their own 20 down by only 10 points, and with over 8 minutes to go in the game????

2. Lack of Cameras, inexcusable.. really. NBA 2k11 has over 40+ variations of camera angles. Madden throws in a half a** broadcast cam that it should be called press box cam plus most of the stadiums mid field logos are UPSIDE DOWN!!!!

3. Stadiums are lifeless. the fans do the same thing at one time. Ditch the fan cut scenes if we only gonna see the same 6 fans plus the chola girl at EVERY GAME!! Most stadiums only have ONE functioning score board, all the ribbon LEDS do the same animations in ALL THE STADIUMS.. garbage.. just garbage.

4. Weather has ZERO effects on the game in fact the worst the weather,the higher the scores are...

5. No field degradation for fields that still uses grass or dirty uniforms (all in Madden 2005 BTW)

6. No Day Night transitions. GTA does this, Gran Turismo 5 does this. We see it every week on saturdays and sundays. MLB The Show you can tell if you are playing in the bright sun, partly cloudy where the sun goes in and out of clouds or overcast, cold days....
No dynamic weather..still. Were not playing these games on Nintendo 8 bits you know.

7. Replays.. need I say more??

8. Commentary sucks. Everybody heard the Gus Johnson gaffe "the pigskin, OH" bit and after teams make a touchdown, Gus would say something like "after the penalty its 4th down" hilarious..

9. The falcons beat the rams 27-24 in ot, so why does the final score say the rams 30 falcons 21 in the team stats screen after the game???

You get my drift?? Games like NBA 2k11 and the Show shows sports gamers what is possible. We just want our football games, since its the most popular sport in the country, to do it also. Im praying Backbreaker gets better until something else comes along. Heck everybody talks about NFL 2k (the greatest) getting back into the game, What about Sony?? They are one of the NFLs biggest advertisers, how come they cant approach the NFL for a license?? The PS3 is severely getting short changed due to having a more superior media storage....

This is a long post so I'll stop here...

Ben
Voodoo

[tabulaRasa]

Exclusive deals hurt games. Backbreaker wasnt an Awesome game as à nfl game . But it was fresh and has great promise . Madden is stale. And 2 k always felt more immersive.

[aTTckr]

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

...

Agreed. Imo the biggest problem with the current devs is that they really aren't football fans or sport games fans at all. The devs talking about 2k11 and how they don't like it because they lose sometimes and how complicated it is. That was the point where I lost all of my remaining trust in the leading devs. Just sad.

[shyvoodoo]

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

One more nugget as to how far apart the madden devs are from their fans. This was taken off the MLB The Show Online Community Forum, describing their new mode, Real Time Presentation Mode:

"Dear sports fans,

In a continued effort to blur the lines between a video game and a televised broadcast, MLB 10: The Show is proud to introduce the brand new presentation mode: Real Time. Available with replays or without, Real Time is a new presentation mode designed to further enhance the realism our baseball simulation offers you, the baseball fan.

Hoping to have you question whether you’re playing MLB 10: The Show or watching a live baseball game on TV, we’ve captured hundreds of new animations and have done extensive work with both our AI and our cameras. From the pitcher toeing the rubber until the next batter walks up to the dish, you’ll experience continuity with the seamless animations and positional intelligence of each player on and off the field. All new camera angles and cut-timing capture the player’s new movements and further enhance the presentation mode by mimicking the camera work seen on televised MLB broadcasts. Post-play has never looked this real....."

After showing a couple of examples.

"So why did we add Real Time presentations to MLB 10: The Show? What’s the point? Well our goal is simple. We want Real Time presentations to give baseball fans a new and real way to view our game."

You see the difference between devs who "get it" and the Madden developers who cant???
ATTENTION TO DETAILS!!
amazing...

Ben
Voodoo