14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts is estimating that Madden NFL 09 has managed to bring in revenue of more than 133.5 million dollars since it was launched on August 12. There is no clear independent confirmation of the numbers, but the August NPD report should be out any day now to provide us with some data.
EA Sports says that this is a 6% increase over the sales performance that Madden NFL 2008 posted when it was launched last year and on the critics’ front, the game has managed so far to receive the highest ratings the franchise has seen in three years.
EA points out that Madden NFL 09 managed to bring in better sales than the best movies of the month of August. Tropic Thunder only got 83.9 million $, Mamma Mia! just 56.4 million $ while Pineapple Express grabbed 79.9 million $, meaning that Madden NFL has them beaten by quite a large margin.
Peter Moore, the head of EA Sports, says that “We're still the red-headed stepchild; we're still not mainstream entertainment” so the results are a “vindication for our industry”.
Pre-orders of the game also skyrocketed, more than doubling over last year. The game is also more accessible to new casual gamers, while maintaining the edge that hardcore players look for in an American football game.
Peter Moore also said that critics are raving over the game, mentioning that “We're obviously very optimistic about finishing the year very strongly on Metacritic scores -- which is the only real, objective indicator of quality”. I beg to differ on the importance of Metacritics ratings, but there's no denying that Electronic Arts has managed to create games that bring in not only new graphics and players rooster, but also genuine new gameplay mechanics.
The multiplayer aspect of the game is a big draw for some gamers as well and EA Sports believes that more than 100 million online matches of Madden NFL will have been played by the end of 2008.