Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lerxt

Aren't poor sales figures being heard? Granted, Madden may sell as well in the long run, but the initial numbers are down. I bet you EA well aware of the sales figures.

No, poor sales numbers aren't being heard.

The article didn't have any sales numbers on Madden, just pure speculation.

VG charts has the game selling roughly the same as last year.

[Ivan71]

I just picked up Madden 11 today. I usually have Madden in my hands on release day, but due to my finances I had to hold off. Me personally from experience believe this is more about the economy than anything else. I have a group of friends that buy Madden annually on release day, but out of the 5 of us that usually get it only 2 of us have it because of financial situations. Really the timing of the release and the economy played a huge role in the sales this year. It comes down to buying Madden or school clothes and supplies for kids, with the release of Madden only 2 weeks before school starts it's a burden this year, I know this was the case for me and my friends this year. I think the whole gaming industry will suffer the same fate. The economy is forcing us to spend our money wisely and not on video games. I know at one point in time I would get every big game release of the year now I'm lucky if I can get my hands on one of them.

[stretch45]

this game isn't stale on gameplay to me i really didn't play last years
reasons kickoffs run back everytime
horid run blockng
morph or clipping on defense to for tackles and picks

this years all that has been fixed
franchise is stale boring
but the run game is fun i never had fun running the ball in any madden
it seems like playcalling matters more than in past
also gameflow is alright (tinked up ask madden but still better)
preplay controls are new kinda hard to get use to
thats all i notice so far

[Valdarez]

What's crazy is preOrders were flat when you could get it for nearly $40 (cheapest I have seen since 2005's 2K5 game).

[moemoe24]

Im not sure why this is surprising to some. Madden hasnt been worth a crap since next gen consoles came out. Had they stuck with what worked on the regular Xbox and PS2 sales would still be chart topping. INstead the game has gone backwards. I used to be a guy that would by Madden on release day....since 07 I havent even thought about buying it.

[maademperor]

Quote: Originally Posted by markprior22

This is the first year I wasn't even the least bit tempted to buy Madden. I am an offline franchise player and the franchise mode is going to need quite an upgrade to pull me back in.

i didnt read all the posts but this sums up my position...make it better and people will buy it at retail...as it is, i'll wait until I see an acceptable used price

[TDKing]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Ok, I won't go down the same road, I'll take the higher one. When topics like this come up, my business experience overrides my video gaming experience. None of us knows exactly what EA does in the board room. All I know is the President of EA wasn't happy with the direction of sales with Madden 10 addressing the stockholders last year. If the low stock price and the declining sales of Madden keep continuing, EA may keep reducing the resources to each of their games, not just Madden.

You can reduce resources and still make a good game IF your resources are focused on the things that really matter.

[Fiasco West]

Personally, I've been a big fan of NFL games. Owning most of the series. This year I am passing on it. Maybe I'll get it in the bargain bin before '12 but this year I stop buying Madden just because it's Madden. For me, they lose that trust that they will put out a game enjoyable to my taste.

When the main feature touted is playing a game in half the time, and Franchise(offline) not being touched...no thank you. Funny thing is, the demo is fun, it seems like the gameplay has improved. If they added one thing to Franchise, who knows...maybe I would have bought it.

IMO Madden needs to cater back to football fans. You cant' depend on casual fans to buy your niche game. That's what it is, it is a niche game. Madden's success depends on the success of the NFL...so cater to NFL fans.

That's what NBA 2k does. It cater's to NBA fans. Whether they are the casual fans who enjoy Oops/Dunks and random 3-point shooting, or the hardcore fans that want defense and strategy. It caters to the NBA fan and the game will only do as well as the NBA does.

I don't feel like Madden is paying attention to NFL fans. Not while marketing "YOU CAN NOW PLAY THE GAME IN HALF THE TIME!" okay...obviously they did not have the NFL fan in mind when working on this innovation. They had the casual gamer in mind, the one that has a short attention span, the one that wants to play two online sessions of Halo for 30 mins and move onto the next game or go do something else.

GTA/HALO/COD/SIMS...these are not niche games. Anyone can get into these games and therefore these games will usually do massive numbers. EA/Tiburon must realize they are in a niche market and must appeal to a niche crowd. While the NFL is huge in America, it is a large niche market...the same can be said for a Star Wars game.

IN the end, I don't think one week of sales can tell you anything. But I would not be surprised if the sales did start to slip. Usually with lesser sports the drop is noticeable.

Take UFC 09 and UFC 10 for example. They don't have the benefit of name Madden does, they do not have the large following of the NFL that Madden does...but like Madden they do have the exclusive rights. I think most fans of the game will tell you it has a more arcade feel to it...way too many KOs...and subs are...meh. It feels like a fighting game IMO and not a UFC game. THQ paid the price for that, instead of trying to appeal to UFC/MMA fans they try to make the game more easy and accessible to the casual gamer.