Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - The Stories of 2015: The Compacted Sports Game Release Calendar

RaychelSnr · 12-28-2015, 01:11 PM

The Sports Gaming release calendar was a little, ahem, compact this year.

Madden NFL 16 released on August 25. Within a couple of weeks NHL 16 and PES 2016 were out. Then the next week FIFA 16 was out.

Then the very next week it was time for both NBA games to release.

And those were just the major titles -- all within a month's span. You still had independent titles, smaller sports titles, and (oh by the way) all of the other non-sports games.

Compacting the release schedule like this was completely unnecessary and likely cost each game in terms of overall sales.

The fix seems simple enough. FIFA and PES should both be moved back into the summer when most leagues globally are getting ready to launch. NBA games should be pushed back to mid-late October and Madden should probably be pushed back a week or so to Mid-August vs. Late-August.

When combined with EA's annual June release of UFC or Rory -- you'd have sports games from April to October releasing every month but May. And when you get down to it, May is a great time for independent studios to fill a void.

That calendar would give us one new sports game per month to enjoy, break down, play in online leagues, and spend our hard earned money on Ultimate Team.

Instead we got everything within a 6 week window. What a shame.

Let's make a change in 2016 publishers.

12-28-2015, 01:11 PM	#1
RaychelSnr Executive Editor OVR: 57 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 4,846 Blog Entries: 490	The Stories of 2015: The Compacted Sports Game Release Calendar The Sports Gaming release calendar was a little, ahem, compact this year. Madden NFL 16 released on August 25. Within a couple of weeks NHL 16 and PES 2016 were out. Then the next week FIFA 16 was out. Then the very next week it was time for both NBA games to release. And those were just the major titles -- all within a month's span. You still had independent titles, smaller sports titles, and (oh by the way) all of the other non-sports games. Compacting the release schedule like this was completely unnecessary and likely cost each game in terms of overall sales. The fix seems simple enough. FIFA and PES should both be moved back into the summer when most leagues globally are getting ready to launch. NBA games should be pushed back to mid-late October and Madden should probably be pushed back a week or so to Mid-August vs. Late-August. When combined with EA's annual June release of UFC or Rory -- you'd have sports games from April to October releasing every month but May. And when you get down to it, May is a great time for independent studios to fill a void. That calendar would give us one new sports game per month to enjoy, break down, play in online leagues, and spend our hard earned money on Ultimate Team. Instead we got everything within a 6 week window. What a shame. Let's make a change in 2016 publishers.