EA Sports MMA One and Done?

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phobia

I saw a few commercials but they were few and far between. Plus the commercials were not great in my opinion. None of them made me say "Ohh damn that looks badass". Lastly, I disagree about the "sports" game angle. Reason being is people always talk about "casual" gamers and the "hardcore" gamers. Madden sells plenty of copies BECAUSE of the casual crowd. While most the "hardcore" crowd complain about the gameplay. So the lack of purchasing from the game can't be because it is a "sport" game. Hell most casual fans would not even consider EA MMA a sport, they would consider it a "fighting game". Most of the ones who have it right now even still try to play it as a fighting game and not a sport. So while we the MMA fans know it is a sport. The average Joe, like my dad for instance look at this as a "fighting game". My dad loves Fight Night series and when I told him about this he was like "Isn't that the karate fighting game". So your standard 12 to 14 year old who sees a commercial for UFC, Strikeforce, Pride, etc know nothing different between the different organizations. All they know is that it is a "fighting game" like the real fighting. A casual fan I would not even see them naming many UFC fighters. Hell you could make a argument that most people only know the very very well known ones such as Chuck Liddell, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, and Frank Mir. But you name Dan Hardy, Sonnen, Brandon Vera, etc to a casual gamer and they will know them no better than Jake Shields. Now don't get me wrong, UFC carries more weight for sure. But enough to warrant the big lack of sales. I just don't see that being the case. I think it is more to a marketing issue. My lady does marketing for 14 locations of her job and hell they do more marketing than what I have seen out of EA MMA.

Most of the hardcore crowd complains BUT they still buy Madden. Thats why there are tons of people in OS Madden Forums.

The casual fan can name the following UFC fighters: Brock, Cain (because of this wknd), GSP, Liddell, Rampage, Silva, BJ and Hughes. Those are the people that the casual fan likes to fight with. They arent using Dennis Siver or Pellegrino. They like fighting with people they know. You cant compare any MMA game to Tekken because the MMA game is based in real life. There is no storyline to an MMA game like in a fighting game. If you give the casual fan the choice between buying a game with people they know and recognize and a game where they know nobody....they are going to choose the first game.

It doesnt matter how great the game is. People like fighting with people they know. There is a reason that 3/4 of the fighters in Fighter share are UFC fighters.

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Most of the hardcore crowd complains BUT they still buy Madden. Thats why there are tons of people in OS Madden Forums. The casual fan can name the following UFC fighters: Brock, Cain (because of this wknd), GSP, Liddell, Rampage, Silva, BJ and Hughes. Those are the people that the casual fan likes to fight with. They arent using Dennis Siver or Pellegrino. They like fighting with people they know. You cant compare any MMA game to Tekken because the MMA game is based in real life. There is no storyline to an MMA game like in a fighting game. If you give the casual fan the choice between buying a game with people they know and recognize and a game where they know nobody....they are going to choose the first game. It doesnt matter how great the game is. People like fighting with people they know. There is a reason that 3/4 of the fighters in Fighter share are UFC fighters.

I don't know. I agree to a degree. But also think it is much deeper than just a UFC over unknown league issue. But that is just my opinion.

Plus if Chase is being truthful in that post 24/7 made. Then that shoots that theory down if it is selling comparable with UFC 2010. Means just as many people are going out to buy it.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phobia

I don't know. I agree to a degree. But also think it is much deeper than just a UFC over unknown league issue. But that is just my opinion. Plus if Chase is being truthful in that post 24/7 made. Then that shoots that theory down if it is selling comparable with UFC 2010. Means just as many people are going out to buy it.

Never trust stats from a marketing manager. There is NO WAY that these sales are comparable to 2010. There were 0 preoders at two of my local gamestops. The game had limited buzz. Its growing now that the reviews are in but no where close.

[Lakers 24 7]

To be clear, he stated that the initial distribution was good, which is different from sales and doesn't always indicate strong sales.

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Never trust stats from a marketing manager. There is NO WAY that these sales are comparable to 2010. There were 0 preoders at two of my local gamestops. The game had limited buzz. Its growing now that the reviews are in but no where close.

True.......but I still believe it is a combination of issues. But don't believe it is strictly license rights.

For instance, two of my buddies. HUGE MMA fans. But not huge gaming guys did not even know the game was coming out. They came to my house this weekend for Brock vs Cain. Never even knew EA had a MMA game in the works. Now they are going get it because the game impressed them.

I have spoke with so many guys who did not even know what EA MMA was. Not from a mix martial arts perspective but more they did not even know it was being developed. This is partly why I think it is a marketing issue. Plus with what I have seen on TV, nothing has impressed me that people will run out to buy it.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Most of the hardcore crowd complains BUT they still buy Madden. Thats why there are tons of people in OS Madden Forums. The casual fan can name the following UFC fighters: Brock, Cain (because of this wknd), GSP, Liddell, Rampage, Silva, BJ and Hughes. Those are the people that the casual fan likes to fight with. They arent using Dennis Siver or Pellegrino. They like fighting with people they know. You cant compare any MMA game to Tekken because the MMA game is based in real life. There is no storyline to an MMA game like in a fighting game. If you give the casual fan the choice between buying a game with people they know and recognize and a game where they know nobody....they are going to choose the first game. It doesnt matter how great the game is. People like fighting with people they know. There is a reason that 3/4 of the fighters in Fighter share are UFC fighters.

Well, of course people were going to create UFC guys out of the gate since aside from Couture (who inked with EA when he was not with the UFC) and Shields, the UFC isn't represented in this game.

I've seen the commercial for the EA several times on various networks and it's really well done. My wife, who follows MMA very casually (only b/c I'm a big fan), even commented on how good the commercial was and how good the limited glimpses of gameplay looked.

But you are right in that the casual MMA fan is likely to go with the "brand" name over the "better" game. We saw the same thing in 2007 with Madden 08 and APF 2K8. Sorry to bring those games into this discussion but it certainly fits. One would be hard-pressed to successfully argue that Madden 08 was a better game ON THE FIELD than APF 2K8. But, Madden had the NFL License. Yes, APF had legends but only the hardcore football fan (and one that truly cares about the history of the game) really knew who Lester Hayes, Night Train Lane, Paul Hornung and Jackie Smith were. The casuals didn't know and didn't care to find out, so they passed on the game, especially once it was revealed that there was no franchise mode.

I think that's what is happening with EA's game. It's a shame too b/c while I don't own the game, I do plan on purchasing it very soon. From the impressions I've read from long-time mods and users I respect and have gamed (is that a word? It is now.) with in the past, it really sounds like EA did a bang-up job for a first-time effort and it would be real nice to see the developers given an opportunity to build on this base.

[inkpimp007]

Seems that the EA brand is more of a negative then anything even when they do get a game right.

[Gotmadskillzson]

EA MMA suffers from one thing and one thing only that matters and that is bad release timing. It came out at the same time of Fallout: New Vegas and too close to the COD: Black Ops release date.

Being the masses was going to buy Fallout, they weren't going to turn and buy EA MMA when they knew COD: Black Ops was on the horizon. And it is also true that the poor demo drove the casual consumer away.

Ads were plentiful.......But to say unrecognized fighters....I don't know about that.

Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, Bas, Tim Silvia, Jeff Monson, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Frank Trigg, Arlowski, Dan Henderson, and one other fighter who I forget his name....ALL came from the UFC.

So unless you just started watching UFC in the past 2 years then yeah you might not have known all those fighters started off in the UFC. Plus people got to keep in mind this is a global market, not just a USA market. Average american might not know a lot of MMA fighters, but as long as this game sales well in Europe and the rest of the world, it will continue to be supported by EA.

It is the same thing as FIFA. FIFA never sell well in the USA, but in Europe, it goes platinum every year. So in theory, it can be 2 MMA games at the same time.

Stranger things have happened. People thought the Wii wouldn't last in the generation of uber HD graphics, but the Wii is selling strong.