Weak Madden Sales Signaling Trouble for Game Industry

[inkcil]

Bottom line for me as someone who likes choices (including choices in pro-sports licened games), I hope this is a glimpse of good news and is somehow an indicator that having multiple choices of a NFL branded game will soon return to the gaming community...

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

All the flimsy correlations between lagging sales and supposed "poor quality" are amusing. Madden 11 and NCAA 11 are among the best, if not THE best, football games ever made by EA (or by anybody). The software industry is down across the board, as are numbers for almost every industry based purely on recreation and discretionary income. This is the worst economy since the Great Depression. So yeah....sales will be down. Believe it or not, the VAST majority of Madden buyers don't hang out on message boards whining about video games all day every day trying to pick it apart. Sorry to rain on the haters' parade, but the down economy is pretty much all it amounts to.

While I think you are right, there is also something else to it, as there has been this rising tide of seeming unhappiness at the Madden franchise, while other franchises which have remained just as stagnant gameplay-wise (I'm looking at you, NBA 2k) have flourished.

I think it's safe to say that gameplay alone doesn't sell. As brilliant as the 2k games were, they never approached Madden's sales (except for 2k5 which was very aggressively priced and marketed, and might have cost 2k the shot at the exclusive license). Backbreaker (although I vehemently disagree with any notion that this is a good game) has sold about 70 thousand copies in 11 weeks (bottoming out last week at a little over 1 thousand combined). NHL 11 (a game which is on-ice better than madden is on-field) sold less than a million units combined as well.

What the people want seem to be the big flashy features (Jordan mode in nba 2k11) and what has been presented so far (gameflow, locomotion, extra point, etc) haven't come up to that level. I think if we've learned anything from the past few years, it's that people don't take kindly to the iterative process of sports gaming (just look at the UFC franchise, which went from darling to dud in about a year) and a different approach might be needed to really capture the attention of the gaming landscape. One thing to note, though, is that if a game like Madden went to every 2 years, they'd have to do about 7 million units in those on years to justify the loss of sales in the off years. I don't think EA would be willing to take that risk, if they were even allowed to do so (which most say they aren't).

So where does that leave us? It seems to me like every few years there will be a watershed Madden which leaves us all amazed (2005 was the last one) and most years in between will be little nips and tucks. NCAA 11 seemed to just have its first watershed game since the 2004 game, so the hope is that Madden will have that experience for us next year.

[Clutch masta]

madden is nowhere near a 9 rating.Why are people so bias?

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clutch masta

madden is nowhere near a 9 rating.Why are people so bias?

If a reviewer believes that the game deserves a 9, where is this supposed bias?

[PRAY IV M3RCY]

Quote: Originally Posted by metallicatz

All the flimsy correlations between lagging sales and supposed "poor quality" are amusing. Madden 11 and NCAA 11 are among the best, if not THE best, football games ever made by EA (or by anybody). The software industry is down across the board, as are numbers for almost every industry based purely on recreation and discretionary income. This is the worst economy since the Great Depression. So yeah....sales will be down. Believe it or not, the VAST majority of Madden buyers don't hang out on message boards whining about video games all day every day trying to pick it apart. Sorry to rain on the haters' parade, but the down economy is pretty much all it amounts to.

Please, and of course ea is going to have the best football game out. They got rid of all of their competition by having an exclusive license for NFL, NCAA and ARENA. It would be really sad if 5 years later after getting the nfl license that ea didnt have the best football game out

[JerseySuave4]

its not the economy, thats just an easy excuse. If the game is worth it, people will find a way to save $60 if they need to. For someone that has a job, $60 is not a lot of money. For kids that can't afford it, $60 might be a lot to the parent that has to pay for the game or the kid saving the game, but i doubt its whats stopping those kids from buying it and if the game was worth buying then the kid can convince his parent to spend $60 on the game.

EA didnt bring it once again and people are finally tired of just spending the money on a game thats not worth it. When their biggest advertising point is quicker games, thats not good.

[stlstudios189]

before I jump in does anyone know what NCAA sales were compared to last year? That game made a huge jump from the year before quality wise. I hosted a Madden tourney this year at my house and most of the players had not purchased the game yet but after the tourney 3 guys went out and bought the game. I think it's been a little poor economy a little past poor quality and a little bit of people waiting to spend the $$. I usually get Madden and Raw vs. Smackdown every year but, this year with $$ tight I will bypass RAW and hope I get it for xmas.

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by PRAY IV M3RCY

Please, and of course ea is going to have the best football game out. They got rid of all of their competition by having an exclusive license for NFL, NCAA and ARENA. It would be really sad if 5 years later after getting the nfl license that ea didnt have the best football game out

I'm not sure what you're arguing here. Do you mean best football game ever or just this year?



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