14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts is one of the biggest video game publishers out there, owing much of its yearly revenue to hit franchises like Need For Speed or its sports series that tackles everything from soccer to basketball and anything in between.
But without a doubt one of its biggest money makers, at least in the United States, is its Madden NFL franchise, which is grossing huge amounts of money every year. It seems that with this year's Madden NFL 10, things will be even more so, as Peter Moore, the president of EA's Sports label, declared that pre-orders were even bigger than in 2008.
“I just got the latest pre-sales numbers for Madden... and we're now marginally ahead year-on-year with about ten days to go,” said Moore. “Last year on this call we talked about pre-sales and whether they were really a key indicator anymore for what the strength of the title is going to be out of the blocks... but we're marginally ahead and the buzz we're now starting to feel for the title is starting to build.”
He also revealed the marketing effort that would be emplaced this year in order to sustain the game, saying that the Friday release day would certainly guarantee even more high sales. “Interestingly, we're shipping on a Friday, and we're capitalizing on a pre-season game on Thursday night between the Steelers and the Cardinals, which of course is a recap of the Super Bowl,” stated Moore. “There will be a tremendous amount of marketing both at half-time and in and around the game on that, so hopefully we'll have a very strong launch at 12:01AM on August 14th. All the metrics are very, very positive right now for Madden.”
Overall, it seems that it will be yet another fine Madden launch for EA and plenty of fans will flock to get their yearly fix of the American football simulator. Look forward to next week, when the game is launched.