No Free Wolfenstein For You!

[Andy Chalk]

No Free Wolfenstein For You!

Looks like it's tough cookies for everyone hoping to get a free copy of Madden NFL [http://www.wolfenstein.com/] may be slumping but it's still an unstoppable machine.

Last month, Raven Lead Designer Manveer Heir put out the challenge [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93862-Raven-Designer-Declares-a-Wolfenstein-Madden-Showdown]: If Wolfenstein outsold Madden NFL 10 in August, he wrote on his Twitter blog, he would personally pay for everyone's copy of Wolfenstein. The proposition was made somewhat less thrilling by the fact that there was absolutely zero chance of a Raven FPS, even a very good one, beating EA Sports' number-one title on the sales chart, but it was still a fun idea and a great way to drum up some publicity.

Then something interesting happened: The latest Madden hit the shelves and it didn't take off quite as everyone expected. Analyst Colin Sebastian said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94004-Madden-NFL-2010-Gets-a-Slow-Start] the game was "trending slightly below plan out of the gates." The game was on!

But it wasn't, not really. NPD numbers for August came out yesterday and Madden, unsurprisingly, dominated the charts. The number one game for the month was Madden NFL 10 for the Xbox 360; the PlayStation 3 version came in at number three while the PS2 version was number six. The Wii and PSP editions didn't make the chart but still cranked out healthy numbers; collectively, nearly two million copies of the game were sold across all platforms. Wolfenstein, on the other hand, didn't even make the top ten.

"For those of you who are waiting for your free copies of Wolfenstein - sorry. No dice," Heir wrote earlier today. "Madden sold well over a million."

In spite of the crushing defeat, Heir didn't seem to take the loss very badly; in fact, he seemed almost philosophical about it. "For the record I am not surprised or sad we didn't beat Madden," he added. "Madden is a JUGGERNAUT in this industry. That was the point of the 'bet'."

Better luck next time!

Source: Gamasutra [http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25210]


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[Torque669]

Didnt really expect it to happen. Would have been funny if it had but ah well.

Wolfenstein wasnt that good anyway.

 

[StigmataDiaboli]

Well Madden release days are epic. I remember reading somewhere that a percentage of business owners actually expect 'sick days' on Madden releases.

Yeah that and Wolfenstein isn't great to be honest.

 

[awesomebillfromdawsonville]

WTF? Why cant I get a free Madden? Fuck EA! First they take away my beloved MVP Baseball, now this!?!

 

[VastShadowz41]

Maybe if Endrant had actually listened to the Wolfenstein community and designed the MP around them it would've sold much better. Too bad they didn't, so the results are not surprising one bit.

 

[Powerman88]

Of course a generic grey FPS isn't going to outsell the new Madden title. Despite what EA Sports will lead you to believe you can't just slap an old, nostalgic title on a crappy game and expect it to sell.

 

[Valiance]

Wolfpro multiplayer isn't too bad.

The rest of it feels more CoD like than I wanted.

Single player is fine so far though, I guess people just have really high standards for games when hey, I laughed in awe/happiness when I first exploded someone with my particle cannon, so...

lol.

Just saying I enjoyed the game and I'm glad I got it. I'm sure as hell glad I didn't lose 50 or 60 dollars for it, but hey, that's what birthday presents are for.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

Once again, Madden disappoints me. But if it actually happened, he'd probably just say "I was just kidding." and everyone will get pissed.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

It doesn't really surprise me, Wolfenstein wasn't that good. It was average at best, which is decent in the world of shooters.


But, I think even Madden fans are getting sick of the rehashing ever year though...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

yeah this isn't a big surprise, i could have said what the outcome for this would have been

 

[Silencer13]

I heard wolfenstien waist that good anyway, Manveer only did that to sell more copies. If you tell a bunch gamers that if they buy a game and there might be a chance it will be free, a lot of people might be hopeful enough to believe it. I?m guessing Manveer was hoping Wolfenstien would sell a lot because of his bet but not enough to where he would win.

Just a publicity stunt.
(a bad one at that)

 

[ace_of_something]

I'm still waiting for my free Dr. Pepper from the Chinese Democracy release.

 

[onioftheash]

to be completely honest i hate all sport games my personal opinion is why play a sport game when u can go outside and play the game FOR REAL

 

[scotth266]

I was actually expecting some weird piracy shenanigans.

 

[The Random One]

Of course a generic grey FPS isn't going to outsell the new Madden title.

I don't get why generic grey FPS's fail while generic sports games that are the same as last year's only the guy's names are changed are the industry juggernauts. They're both equally generic to me, but I can think of an excuse to buy a new generic grey FPS but can't really justify buy a new generic sport game if the last one still works perfectly well.

 

[Altorin]

Once again, Madden disappoints me. But if it actually happened, he'd probably just say "I was just kidding." and everyone will get pissed.

he'd get lynched.

He would have to shell out a lot of money.. maybe not everyone's.. but he'd start throwing around free money

that being said, if it DID outsell Madden.. he'd practically have enough money to make his own money pool like Scrooge McDuck, so he'd probably gladly celebrate by throwing money around like... the opposite of Scrooge McDuck.

 

[AvsJoe]

Oh well. That fun a fun 'what if' scenario, but everyone knew that Madden was going to obliterate like it does every year. I'll be picking it up as well once the used copies roll out en masse.