14 DAY TRIAL // Colin Sebastian, an analyst watching the video game industry for Robert W. Baird & Co., says that the recently announced sales numbers for Madden NFL 25 show the effects of console transitions on game launches and the pattern for the rest of the year.
Publisher Electronic Arts says that it has managed to deliver a little over 1 million units to fans in the launch week, while during the same period of 2012, the number stood over 1.65 million.
Sebastian is quoted by VG247 as saying in an investor note that, “With both NCAA and Madden now demonstrating declining sales over the summer, we continue to expect soft sell-through trends for all but the most popular video game franchises. As such, Madden issues should not imply any weakness in sales for Take Two’s upcoming GTA 5 or EA’s Battlefield, in our view.”
Sales of Madden NFL 25 have also been affected by the higher price of the 25-year anniversary edition, by the increase of digital sales and some delays from gamers who are not spending money because they are saving for the launch of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
The analyst says that FIFA 14 should perform better overall than the American football sim.
He adds, “the September launch of FIFA 14 is a more important driver of revenues and profits, and we expect this global franchise to sell roughly in line with last year quantities, as fans gear up for the upcoming World Cup year.”
Traditionally, FIFA 14 is a bigger seller on the European market, while Madden NFL 25 dominates North America.
FIFA 14 is set to launch on the PC and current-gen consoles on September 24 in North America and three days later in Europe.
The game also has versions for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, both powered by the new Ignite engine.