14 DAY TRIAL // EA Sports is one of Electronic Arts' biggest divisions, generating massive income with the yearly releases of games based on the most popular sports out there. Be it European soccer, with the FIFA series, or basketball, with the NBA Live franchise, a lot of sports have been marketed by EA. But the most successful sport franchise in the company's portfolio is the one based on American football, Madden.
Managing massive amounts of sales and having a very large fan base, the game is a guaranteed best seller every year for EA. One of the most discussed things about the game isn't the features it will have or what innovations it will bring, but who will be the cover athlete. Although some say a curse might be chasing the game, as a lot of previous cover players have gotten into serious trouble, being victims of accidents or arrested by the police, EA Sports president Peter Moore says it is an honor to every player to be featured on the cover.
Such an honor that Moore has recently spoken with Bloomberg about his plans to auction off the cover spot for future Madden releases to the highest bidder. But don't think that this is a trick to make more money - all of the profit will go to the NFL, or National Football League's charity of choice, United Way. He added that a decision hadn't been made but there are chances it might be put into practice because a lot of players would want to get the cover spot.
“I bet you can find 50 players that would say, 'I'd pay good money'. The league does a lot of work with them to make them realize how lucky they are and a lot of them have come out of poor circumstances and they give back,” said Moore when asked about the interest of players to appear on the Madden cover.
It's really nice to hear that big companies like EA are thinking of ways to help charity foundations. Let's not forget that the company released a special edition of Madden NFL 09 in order to raise funds for breast cancer foundations.