Madden 09 Dominates US Sales in August

[GTheorenHobbes]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

It's far too early to be drinking this heavily. EA has a stranglehold on the NFL license and they won't be losing it any time soon. Who else can guarantee that kind of revenue based on millions of sales of a video game?

The NFL used to collect royalties from the sale of at least 3 licensed NFL games (Madden, 2k and Blitz). Many of the folks who used to buy 2k still do not buy Madden, as evidenced by the relatively flat sales. So now, the NFL gets royalties from 1 game. It would seem to me that sooner or later, someone at the NFL is going to figure this out. Unless EA pays soooo much for the exclusive that it makes it worthwhile for the NFL, which we don't know since it's never been publicly revealed (to my knowledge). But if that's the case, the relatively flat sales will catch up to EA sooner or later...and come to think of it, we've already seen EA's profit numbers take a dive the last 2 years.

[Earl1963]

I traded mine in a couple days ago. I had a hard time staying awake while playing it despite how good it is. There were a lot of used ones there too.

[renojedi]

Quote: Originally Posted by jbrew2411

I will just wait on the patch like everyone else while EA gets to count me in there sale numbers. I'm a fool.

Don't feel too bad on this one, bud. I made the same comment last year thinking '08 would be the best yet. Then the fumble bug followed by the free agent bug that actually killed franchises last year popped up. We ended up waiting for patches for those into November. This year I promised myself no Madden until the bugs are patched. Hopefully it won't be into November again.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by GTheorenHobbes

The NFL used to collect royalties from the sale of at least 3 licensed NFL games (Madden, 2k and Blitz). Many of the folks who used to buy 2k still do not buy Madden, as evidenced by the relatively flat sales. So now, the NFL gets royalties from 1 game. It would seem to me that sooner or later, someone at the NFL is going to figure this out. Unless EA pays soooo much for the exclusive that it makes it worthwhile for the NFL, which we don't know since it's never been publicly revealed (to my knowledge). But if that's the case, the relatively flat sales will catch up to EA sooner or later...and come to think of it, we've already seen EA's profit numbers take a dive the last 2 years.

I think the numbers were released generally speaking ($300 million over 5 years initially - http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/comm...column_gaming/). The NFL gets at least $60 million per year from this deal which nobody else could come close to paying. The NFL loves exclusive deals like this for some reason. The 2K games (before the $20 price shocker for 2K5) never sold more than 400,000 copies if I remember correctly. Blitz probably did OK but Madden usually sells over 4,000,000 copies across all of its platforms. Nobody else comes close and since the NFL made almost all of its money off the EA football games, it was an easy decision to go exclusive. Even if it meant pissing off a good amount of hardcore football fans.

Hockey, basketball and baseball aren't like football in that each competitor has a sizeable chunk of the market and the overall money involved isn't nearly as big. I think the NFL is happy to death with this deal while I also think it cut into EA's profit margins pretty well. If anyone walks away from this deal it would be EA. But they will continue to sell 4 million copies across all platforms with no competition. Its doubtful they would walk away from that even if it costs them almost $15 per game. They were probably paying close to $10 a game before the exclusive deal (just a guess on my part) so this deal only cost EA an extra $5 per game to kill its competition. It's still a cash cow no matter what.

[Heelfan71]

Quote: Originally Posted by GTheorenHobbes

Are you kidding? Another year or two of flat sales, and EA/Tiburon can probably kiss the exclusive NFL license goodbye. I'm grateful Ian's around, and it sounds like he might finally have the train on the right track (after 4 wasted years on the next gen consoles), but they need us as much (if not more) than we need them.

THose numbers are not flat sales at all. And most people (including me) that I have talked to think this years is the best Madden to date. EA doesn't need us here either. The people at OS are a small fraction of the total sales.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heelfan71

THose numbers are not flat sales at all. And most people (including me) that I have talked to think this years is the best Madden to date. EA doesn't need us here either. The people at OS are a small fraction of the total sales.

You don't think a 2% increase over last year's numbers is "flat"? What would be? 0 or 1%? I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

[GTheorenHobbes]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I think the NFL is happy to death with this deal while I also think it cut into EA's profit margins pretty well. If anyone walks away from this deal it would be EA. But they will continue to sell 4 million copies across all platforms with no competition. Its doubtful they would walk away from that even if it costs them almost $15 per game. They were probably paying close to $10 a game before the exclusive deal (just a guess on my part) so this deal only cost EA an extra $5 per game to kill its competition. It's still a cash cow no matter what.

Remember, EA just reported a net loss for the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year of USD $ 95 million. Whether they're happy with the exclusive or not, EA's paying for it through the nose...and sooner or later, the stockholders are gonna be upset. When that happens, the people who negotiated the exclusive are going to be on the street.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-of-95m-for-q1

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by GTheorenHobbes

Remember, EA just reported a net loss for the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year of USD $ 95 million. Whether they're happy with the exclusive or not, EA's paying for it through the nose...and sooner or later, the stockholders are gonna be upset. When that happens, the people who negotiated the exclusive are going to be on the street. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-of-95m-for-q1

But that report doesn't say why they lost money. You can't assume Madden lost them money. It could have been for a bunch of other projects while Madden kept them from losing more. Who knows?