14 DAY TRIAL // Madden NFL is a huge franchise and its performance is a clear indicator of how well the videogaming industry is doing overall and how well Electronic Arts is doing in a particular year. So, with the game moving about 1.9 million copies in August, with a life time on shelves of about two weeks, Madden NFL seems to be little affected by the slump.
But it seems that the leadership of Electronic Arts is displeased. When compared to the release of Madden NFL 2009, the situation is anything but rosy. In 2008, sales on the Xbox 360 crossed the 1 million unit threshold, while those on the PlayStation 3 were about 22,000 units higher than in 2009.
But the real losses are on the PS2, the Nintendo Wii and on the PSP. The older Sony home console managed to draw sales of 424,000 in 2008 and of only 162,000 in 2009. The Wii and PSP version did not even make it in the NPD software top ten, showing that Electronic Arts cannot expand its audience to more casual gamers and that the economic situation is even affecting sales among hardcore gamers who picked up Madden NFL year after year.
Johh Riccitiello, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts, has fired and internal e-mail which reads “It is discouraging that one of our highest-rated and best-marketed Madden titles in years is facing strong headwinds” but he remains confident that “we will exceed the record we set last year of shipping 14 titles rated 80 or better. We will know in the weeks ahead when critics rate our big releases such as NHL 10, FIFA 10, Need for Speed SHIFT, Dead Space Extraction, and from EAP, Brutal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2.”