Analyst: Madden 10 sales 'slightly' below expectations

by Richard Mitchell on Aug 19th 2009 9:20PM

According to Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian, as reported by IndustryGamers, sales of Madden NFL 10 have been "slightly below" EA's plan for the title. Based on Lazard's retail data, Sebastian says he believes the lower than expected sales are the result of fewer purchases by mainstream gamers. Specialty game retailers seem to be having no trouble selling Madden, which indicates that "core game fans appear to be somewhat more resilient than mainstream shoppers," according to Sebastian.

Not to worry though, as Sebastian believes the recent PS3 price cut, along with an expected 360 price cut and the beginning of the back-to-school season "could provide a later lift" for the game. We hope so -- because we're really hoping for a sequel.

Source

Tags: business, ea, ea-sports, Electronic-Arts, madden, madden-10, Microsoft, Nintendo, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (61)

Maybe the non-buyers finally realized that they kinda own the same game from the year before...

Agreed. Maybe purchasable every 2-4 years (what I do with NHL games) but not every year. I played it at my friends. I don't think it's that great. The graphics were terrible. I guess a guy was shown in a cut scene riding a bike... but the bike wasnt there (enter LOLcat Invisible Bike pic here) and the controls were a bit delayed along with some frame rate problems.

To be fair, this is by far the best Madden on the current gen consoles, whereas last year's was probably the worst. So in this case, it's not really the same game.

I think by "resilient" he means "Fucking Stupid".

I kinda wish sports games would adopt a 2 year dev cycle. With DLC, they could just keep updating the rosters in the "off" year, even update some of the graphics (like changes in uniforms, logos, fields/courts & new players appearance). They could even charge for those things, like $15 or $20 for the "new season upgrade."
They could cut the costs of development and take their time integrating new technology and new features, while still bringing in cash with the DLC. Of course, the fact that they rake in the dough with these "annualizable" titles means this will never happen.

The thing is Brendan is that's pretty close to what they do already. EA just gets away with charging $60 now instead of $15-20 for the "new season upgrades"

I really hate when people who don't buy Madden complain about not buying Madden.. If they put flying Unicorns in the game you still wouldn't buy it so please commenting....

To be honest, this is the best Madden in the series... And if you have the balls to say its the same as last year must not have played the crap called Madden 09...

Well gee that's a shame.

It truly is. (Hehehe.)

Well, if they didn't release the same game every year with a few tweaks, maybe people would be more interested.

This will probably happen again with Madden NFL 11, too.

the every year stereotype isnt fair because 2k basketball really IS different. Its obvious too not just 1 or 2 small things added. just try and go back a year and see the difference

Gee wonder why....

=) The games are great for groups, but man they get SO Boring. They all feel the same in the end no matter what they do with the detail of the players.

maybe its a boycott so that wolfenstein moves more units and we all get our cash back :D

I hope you're right, because that'd be EPIC.

Well after releasing the same game 10 times, sales are bound to decline.

oh they've released the game more than 10 times..
10 times in the last 10 years.
this just means madden 2010 as in the football year that ends in 2010 this year..
1989 apple 2 madden !!

Madden 1-10 "slightly" below expectations.

Uh, there was no "Madden 1." You so realize the number in "Madden 10" refers to the year 2010 (due to the upcoming season being the 2009/2010 season)? The first Madden game was "John Madden Football" in 1988 for Apple II, which made it's way to Genesis and SNES before annual updates occured. So "Madden 10" is actually the 21st (I believe) edition of the Madden franchise.

I hope Wolfenstein beats Madden 10 in sales.

Can't lie, I'm gettin sick of the Madden Series.

Word.

(I am not going to name names in this post, but...)

I am boycotting the NFL in gerneral. Until they decide to make players retire and stay retired I will not be doing much to help fund the NFL.

I also will not help fund the NFL until they start making players actually pay for the wrongs they do both on and off the field. I don't think a certain player that held dog fights and rapes should be allowed to play for the NFL without giving half of his earnings to a pitbull rehab facility.

What about Plaxico Burress of the NY Giants? This guy is goin to jail for 2 yrs for bringing a Gun to a New York night night club.
Micheal Vick Paid his debt to society, and has donated a crap load of money to orginizations such as PITA.
While I agree that there is definitely some preferential treatment being throne around in professional sports, but it's gettin better.

Who would have thought that hoarding a license would eventually lead to a stale series and a stale genre. What are the chances?!

Don't fuck with the PC.

Maybe people finally realized they can get the previous year's Madden for $10 or less when the new one drops. Is there really a $50 difference between Madden '09 and '10? Nope

In most years there probably isn't.

But in Madden 09 vs. Madden 10, there definitely is. You couldn't pay ME to play 09, but 10 is actually enjoyable.

much less like 09 at gamestop is 17.99 right now

Ps3 buyers wont buy that version if they don't fucking fix it. There's all sorts of texture pop in problems and frame rate drops, not to mention slow load times. I'm pretty pissed. I am not an every year buyer of madden, but after playing a gorgeous looking demo, I decided that I would jump back in this year. Ps3 owners beware. The game looks and plays a whole lot shittier than the demo. You tricked me this time EA, but I am not buying your game again until you loose the 1 year dev cycle. Here's hoping for a subscription based madden.
/rant

here, here.

See my post below yours regarding subscription based madden!

I agree. I freaking loved the demo and it blew me away, bought the game... wtf happened. Its not even the same. There should be some sort of law against crap like this.

Agreed, they definitely pulled a houdini on us. Maybe if the press catches onto this, they will fix the game. That's all I can hope for now. I still find it pretty unbelievable. HERE IS A HOT NEWS SCOOP FOR YOU JOYSTIQ WRITERS! EA put out a madden demo on the ps3 which completely misrepresents the final project and in all likelihood was meant to trick gamers into buying Madden this year. If you don't believe me, test it out for yourself. Download the demo. See how much better it looks and plays. Then try the retail version and sit there scratching your head. I call bullshit.

Crap..really?

I've avoided Madden since PS3 launch because each year I heard it was crap (and the demos proved it)...this year's demo had me interested.

I haven't seen negative remarks in any reviews. Strange. Maybe I'll have to rent it first now...or wait again.

I thought it was just me! I ended up renting the PS3 version on Gamefly and it's terrible it keeps freezing on me at the start screen, so I haven't actually played a game yet.

I'm quite content with the $15 I paid for NCAA 07 and 08 and Madden 07 and 08 for the 360. Granted, you can see quite a bit of difference in graphics, but the 07 ones were some of the first games developed for the 360. 08 shows some improvements. But since with other consoles, next year would be about the time a new console is released, so there would be a big bump in performance. With no new consoles on the horizon, the games ARE going to be stale.

One bad thing about Madden 10? Can't sim my way to a bunch of gamer score.

I am not surprised, I have '09 of this game and played my friends copy of '10 and the differences are not that major. Just a few speed changes and a crappy fumble diving mini game which should be removed right away.

i even forgot this game was released lol

[I've been banned]

Fuck off.

Hey guys, this is our chance. Buy a ton of copies of Wolfenstein so we can all get it for free

I do wonder how the Wii version factored into this. They dropped the All Play brand (and thus the immediate distinction between versions on the box itself), but the actual games have diverged more significantly (and for the worse, according to various sources), aside from the different art styles

Maybe because FINALLY gamers are starting to realize that it is not worth $60 for a roster update and some control/managment tweaks.

Not sure why EA doesn't release a CORE madden and pump out digital updates for $15 every year. I would play if that was the deal, but as it stands, I can't justify a $60 purchase when I know an improved version will be out in 12 months time.

And I make really good money, so it is not like I can't afford it, it just feels too much like I am getting going out behind the woodshed.

*delete* "getting"

I totally agree. Why not just release a core game and then do roster updates. It makes so much sense. This is why I refuse to by new sports games. In the past they had an excuse (no online or ability to update). However, now it would be very easy to do this. The reasoning Is likely that they make more money this way, afterall lots of people do buy it for $60 a pop, and that ultimately $20 for roster updates would mean that it would cut a 2/3 of their profits each year. However that assumes that everyone would have bought it already and that there would be no new sales each year. It could just be on the shelves selling for $60 all year and never go down. I have always wondered how many people wait until the new version is out and just buy the last one for dirt cheap or used. This would take care of that problem as well. It would also free up the madden team to work on other games that might go on to make EA more money.

U know what's killing that idea?? The fact that the 360 DOESN'T include HDDs in ALL their SKUs PLUS the ridiculous fact that you just can't buy any brand HDD. The 360 is seriously holding back the PS3 with mutliplats because of not only the HDD issue BUT the ancient, less disc space CD medium. Those are two of the multiple fuck ups MS came up with when devving the 360. Thank Mr. Gates for that NOT EA.

@TreyIM

Don't have a 360 so forgive ignorance:

Couldn't they sell it to you on the PC Xbox Marketplace and you could play it off a USB key? A roster update can't take THAT much room.

Yeah, stupid move on MS's part to not include hard drives on all systems.

As stated by the Dos Equis guy, a core CD and downloadable roster updates could help. I think though that any yearly management tweaks they made would quickly overwhelm the memory.

And EA probably loses more money on people waiting for price drops and picking up a used version of last years game for a couple bucks. They get none of my money for their football games. This method would get my money. You would easily make it work for PC and PS3 and then figure something out on the 360. If u don't have an HD then you have to go out and buy the full game every year. Consumer's choice and all that.

I for one am hoping that EA sells far more than they expected to. Not because Madden X is better / different than Madden (X - 1), but because this means EA will have the money to take a chance on new, risky IP (like they did with Mirror's Edge).

Whatever happened to the Slim/Madden bundle?

Joystiq...call 1up and ask....they won't return my calls.

lol, 69.

Shit, double post, please downvote the second one into oblivion.

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Analyst: Madden 10 sales 'slightly' below expectations

Reader Comments (61)

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