Madden NFL 2010 Gets a Slow Start

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Madden NFL 2010 Gets a Slow Start


Industry analyst Colin Sebastian says Wolfenstein [http://maddennfl.easports.com/] lead designer Manveer Heir?

Although it was only released five days ago, analyst Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets said Madden NFL 2010 isn't performing quite as well as expected at this early stage. "Checks suggest Madden is trending slightly below plan out of the gates," he said. "Our weekend and recent channel checks indicate sales of Madden NFL are trending flat to slightly up at specialty retail, but somewhat lower than expected in other channels."

He added, however, that price cuts to both the Xbox 360 [http://www.playstation.com], and the inevitable spending that comes with the back-to-school season, could spur the sales back to predicted levels.

But as GameDaily [http://www.gamedaily.com/games/madden-nfl-2010/wii/game-news/madden-nfl-10-off-to-a-slow-start] notes, the 2009 edition of the game only saw a six percent gain in August last year, a relatively tiny amount compared to overall game sales in the period that compounds the impact of this sluggish early performance. It might be going too far to suggest that people are finally getting tired of shelling out big bucks year after year for incremental improvements to a franchise that's been around for two decades, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that as the economy continues to flounder and money remains tight, replacing the 2009 edition with the 2010 release becomes somewhat less of a priority.

None of which is particularly good news for Mannveer Heir, the lead designer on Raven's recently released FPS Wolfenstein. Heir declared on his Twitter account last week that he would personally pay for everyone's copy of Wolfenstein [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93862-Raven-Designer-Declares-a-Wolfenstein-Madden-Showdown] if it outsold Madden in the month of August. Hard numbers aren't available yet but while Madden may be suffering from a minor case of franchise fatigue, Wolfenstein was released to generally solid reviews and a relatively unimpeded run at the FPS crowd. Hope your AmEx has a beefy limit, Manveer.


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Clashero

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Aug 15, 2008
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Tenmar said:
It honestly makes sense though. The reason sport games like the Madden series have always performed well was because people wanted the updated rosters. The rookies and the old pros joining new teams to keep the game as realistic as possible. Now with the ability to update rosters from Madden 2009 and EA REALLY pushing micro transactions on this game which were normally built into previous Madden games it just makes the consumer raise an eyebrow on why they should buy a sixty dollar game and have to spend 30 dollars more for what Madden 2009 offered.
Because of OMG GRAPHICS, being able to play online and for the "I have the latest" feeling. All reasons are equally insipid.
 

sunami88

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Jun 23, 2008
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Have... have people finally begun to realize that it's just the same damn game year after year?

Could it be? The general lemming consumer is... getting smarter?

Please?
 

Earthbound

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Aug 13, 2008
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sunami88 said:
Have... have people finally begun to realize that it's just the same damn game year after year?

Could it be? The general lemming consumer is... getting smarter?

Please?
Excuse me for being cynical, but I'm being cynical of that. It's probably just because they didn't advertise it as much as they normally did. Or they chose the wrong professional football games to slide its commercials into.

Of course, we can all dream, can't we?
 

G1eet

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"Days after the offer was made however, Heir pulled his promotion for reasons unknown."

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_%282009_video_game%29#cite_note-9
 

KeyMaster45

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Jun 16, 2008
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I never really saw the draw in games like this. You sit around with your buddies and give commands to on screen players then sit back and watch them play football. Refresh my memory but I thought that was what TV and Beer were for?

If you're so hard up to play some football grab the ol'pig skin, head outside with some buddies and play some football you sunshine neglected nutters.
 

sharks9

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Mar 28, 2009
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KeyMaster45 said:
If you're so hard up to play some football grab the ol'pig skin, head outside with some buddies and play some football you sunshine neglected nutters.
Thats like telling COD4 players that if they want to kill terrorists they should go join the actual army. Not happenin any time soon.
 

Nawsome

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Clashero said:
Tenmar said:
It honestly makes sense though. The reason sport games like the Madden series have always performed well was because people wanted the updated rosters. The rookies and the old pros joining new teams to keep the game as realistic as possible. Now with the ability to update rosters from Madden 2009 and EA REALLY pushing micro transactions on this game which were normally built into previous Madden games it just makes the consumer raise an eyebrow on why they should buy a sixty dollar game and have to spend 30 dollars more for what Madden 2009 offered.
Because of OMG GRAPHICS, being able to play online and for the "I have the latest" feeling. All reasons are equally insipid.
I have a couple friends who bought it for such reason... Sad really.
Oh wait! No there was something they said was really cool!
!!!**Online Franchise Mode**!!!
Totally worth $60 amirite?
 

Dogstile

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sharks9 said:
KeyMaster45 said:
If you're so hard up to play some football grab the ol'pig skin, head outside with some buddies and play some football you sunshine neglected nutters.
Thats like telling COD4 players that if they want to kill terrorists they should go join the actual army. Not happenin any time soon.
i know people who joined the army because of cod4

they never passed basic though :p
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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Heir isn't serious guys... he will fake his death before paying for Wolfenstein copies...
 

GoldenShadow

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May 13, 2008
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It'll only be one month of sales. You may want to buy it before august is over just in case It turns out to be free
 

ChromeAlchemist

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Do people still play Gaelic Football with armour?

;)
I see what you did there, Timelord. That was cheeky!

He's gonna skip town if Wolfenstein actually does do better though. If I knew he wouldn't, I'd buy it just for that bet.
 

sharks9

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Mar 28, 2009
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dogstile said:
sharks9 said:
KeyMaster45 said:
If you're so hard up to play some football grab the ol'pig skin, head outside with some buddies and play some football you sunshine neglected nutters.
Thats like telling COD4 players that if they want to kill terrorists they should go join the actual army. Not happenin any time soon.
i know people who joined the army because of cod4

they never passed basic though :p
WOW! I suppose they would've been a danger to their squad if they had passed!
I could just imagine...
Soldier 1 : I hear Jimmy got shot 4 times yesterday and kept fighting!
COD4 player : JUGGERNOOOOOOB!!!!!
 

The Austin

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Jul 20, 2009
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WOO! I GET THE EXACT SAME GAME AS LAST YEAR, BUT WITH A ROSTER UPDATE!!!

AND THE BEST PART IS THAT IT'S $60!!