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Madden 07 Earns $100 Million in First Week Sales 89

Posted by Zonk from the and-yet-it-is-still-broken dept.
192939495969798999 writes "CNN reports that Madden 07 grossed over $100 million in the first week, helping to resurrect a sales slump for Electronic Arts. The article states that most people are waiting for the release of PS3 and/or Wii to make game purchases." From the article: "An industry turnaround isn't expected until next year, and EA officials predicted during its quarterly earnings report on August 1 that videogame sales for 2006 across the industry would be flat to down 5 percent."
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Madden 07 Earns $100 Million in First Week Sales More

Madden 07 Earns $100 Million in First Week Sales

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  • next year (Score:5, Funny)

    by legoburner ( 702695 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @11:59AM (#16024519) Homepage Journal
    I would not bother getting this game. Rumour has it there is a sequel coming out next year!
    • I really wouldn't call it a sequel. More like an expansion pack.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MyDixieWrecked ( 548719 )
      I would not bother getting this game

      3 of my friends got this game for the 360 and I must say that I think EA dropped the ball on this one (seriously, no pun intended!)

      the game has locked up several times on one of my friend's consoles, and he hasn't had that problem at all with any other game. Also, there are a lot of problems with collision detection and player animations; namely the celebratory animations after a touchdown. I've seen players get stuck in the air and go into a seizure, and occasionally, a

  • I'm Curious... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by paladinwannabe2 ( 889776 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:01PM (#16024528)
    The stereotype for /.ers is that they like video games but hate Football. Does this extend to video game representations of Football?

    • Re:I'm Curious... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by BeeBeard ( 999187 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:17PM (#16024642)
      Good question. I can't speak for every other non-stereotypical ./ user, but I would imagine that playing Madden would actually create or increase interest in football. The knock on a lot of sports is that "they're more fun to play than they are to watch" (*cough* baseball *cough* *cough*), but in my opinion, actively directing the action in a sports title can sometimes have the effect of turning you into an overnight sports fan.

      I had this happen to me. After playing Madden for a few months, I knew the rosters, strengths, and weaknesses of most of the major pro teams. I knew about nickel defenses, running plays, and out patterns. I learned when it was best to do one thing strategically over another, and that information did wonders for me as an armchair quarterback.

      Basically, the game turned me into a more knowledgeable football fan, and helped to increase my enjoyment watching the sport on television ten-fold.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by recordMyRides ( 995726 )
        This happenned for me too. I hated football until a friend got me to play Madden a few times. Once I knew the names of the plays being run on tv, not to mention the players and coaches running them, the game developed a whole new dimension for me.
        • Playing fantasy sports does the same thing for giving one a broader sense of a sport. Being a Red Sox fan, I used to be fairly boston centric in my sports knowledge of players. But one finds themselves rooting for individual players rather than only for teams when the success of one's fantasy team might rely upon a Yankee player's individual performance *shudder*.

      • he knock on a lot of sports is that "they're more fun to play than they are to watch" (*cough* baseball *cough* *cough*)

        Baseball is the same way. If you're involved in actively watching the sport, and you have an appreciation for the strategy involved, baseball's a great sport to watch. Hell it's even a great sport to listen to on the radio.

        My suggestion to appeal to geek in us - Try keeping score [layhands.com] It's a lot of fun and keeps you in the game. Give it a shot.

    • I've never liked football, and would rather watch paint dry than watch a game being played or (ugh) actually playing a game. It's pretty safe to say I have no love for the sport at all. Hoever, I have found a few itereations of it on consoles surprisingly catchy. Many a boring day was brightened by getting some friends together and playing stuff from "Tecmo Bowl" on NES to "NFL Blitz" on PS1 and in 1990s arcades.

      Never touched a Madden game in my life, though. It's bad enough watching his TV commercials.
    • Me, i just dont like sports video games in general. Awkward, not fun, and asinine repetitive commentary. Its worse than watching WSOP not muted.

      • You know, you can turn the commentary off. Though I don't think you can turn off the "Maddenisms", but keep the other commentary in the Madden games. Nothing infuriates me more than making a stupid defensive mistake and having Madden chime in that it was an offensive "textbook play". Fuck you Madden. Fuck you.

    • I'm willing to bet that the majority of slashdotters do not hate football. I imagine that if you did a survey of the IT industry, the percentage of people who watch football on TV would be pretty similar to the percentage in most other job types.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Cybert4 ( 994278 ) *
        Bit to do with jocks getting all the sex and beating up the transhumanists (/.ers) back in high school.
    • Personally, I am not a big fan of football. This could be in part due to the fans, who seems exceptionally boorish and idiotic compared to those of other sports (excepting hockey). If you judge by my in-laws, it looks like a sport that you need a sub-100 IQ and a case of domestic beer to enjoy.

      I do like playing the Madden games, and I liked the NFL2K series too -- it's a fun game to play on a console, but I don't really consider it a sport -- the 'athletes' play one game a week, a play typically lasts fo
    • Look, the stereotype of /. is that we are transhumanists. Nothing else matters.
  • How does EA keep making money releasing the same game year after year?

    It's a sports game (I admit that I've never been fond of sports games, just play the sport) so what are the huge changes from Madden 05 to Madden 06, and more importantly why do people keep buying the newer game? Slightly better textures? New player rosters? Would somebody please let me know, because I am at a loss.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Sinryc ( 834433 )
      New team stats, new rosters, better graphics... Its released RIGHT at football season... When a game isn't ON, we can play one. Also, you can get a bunch of people that DON'T play other games to play football cause, well, its football.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by paitre ( 32242 )
      It's mostly a single, or a couple, new features each year, the removal of features that were generally panned by players/reviewers, and updated rosters, for the most part.

      Personally, I'd say $30 would be a better price point for it rather than $50/ea.

      • Re:All that different from Madden 06, 05, ... etc (Score:4, Informative)

        by BeeBeard ( 999187 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:23PM (#16024680)
        And you know, many of the more savvy gamers (who don't like to pay money for stupid add-ons) update the rosters manually anyway. It's 100 percent doable on the PC, and I'm told that you can even do it on the XBOX. There is still a cottage industry in providing recent roster and graphics updates for older NBA Live XX, Madden 'XX, and NHL XX games. Google "NBA Live roster update", for example, and you'll see what I mean.
        • The Tecmo series of football games on the SNES and Genesis (the best set of football games ever) has updated rosters available on the web each year for those with emulators.
      • At least at Fry's in the Bay Area, on the day it comes out, Madden is usually around $35 as opposed to $50, so that is always the best price point to get it at.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by antialias02 ( 997199 )
      Having had a roommate who was into Madden pretty hardcore, I can tell you that EA makes some minor design changes from year to year and occasionally adds new functionality (but not always all that interesting). Most of it, though, is roster changes. And sports gamers eat it up.

    • Re:All that different from Madden 06, 05, ... etc (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DeionXxX ( 261398 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:06PM (#16024567)
      What's significantly different about all of the games based in the D&D universe? Oblivion, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Champions of Norath, every Fantasy MMORPG, etc. Each game has the same classes, almost the same spells, weapons etc. What changes? A few textures, a name or two in the same rehashed "you must fight evil" story?

      Usually it is just new rosters and more player animations, capabilities. People buy the game to play with friends or online, once you play a game for awhile, you learn its quirks, so even if you had a new roster, the game wouldn't be as much fun. However a new game with new tweaks, will take a while to learn, so the game will be fun for another couple of months.
      • Hate to reply to myself, but I know that Oblivion and some of those games aren't "IN" the D&D universe, but in D&D-like fantasy universes.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by BlahMatt ( 931052 )
        While I don't entireley disagree with you, I do on several points, 2 of which I feel are worth mentioning:

        A) Games in the "DnD" (as you put it) universe at the very least have different storylines. Different events will occur leading to something new, whereas in football you play football. Each game of football you play will be differemt, but I can't see the difference between madden 06, 05, etc being all that riveting (50$ worth of fun that is)

        B) Yes, classes/spells/abilities are similar between games.
        • But football games are based in the 'real' universe. What you do in the game is somewhat of a reflection of reality.

          You can sit around and talk about the game with football fans who don't even play Madden.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by AcidLacedPenguiN ( 835552 )
        The difference is that RPGs don't get released every single year, and they tend to be fundamentally different. Anyone who says that Oblivion and Morrowind are the same - a few minor details, never played them both. The baldur's gate series is fairly close to what you're saying, but Neverwinter Nights is quite dissimilar to baldur's gate. I have not played Champions of Norath, so I shall not comment. But I will comment that D&D Online and World of Warcraft aren't even close to the same as far as gameplay

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by UbuntuDupe ( 970646 )
        As far as I know, the NFL's storyline is the same each year. Now, what I want to see is a football video game that *really* mimics what happens in the *real* NFL. Want to bribe a ref? Try it. Honeytrap the other team's key players? Do it. Dope your players? Hook 'em up. Tactical penalties to injur others? Assassinations? Fixing matches? At least make it an option.

        The problem is, I ... don't think that game would go over well with the Jack Thompson crowd.
    • You might be asking the wrong crowd that question.
    • Who says it's the same people buying it every year?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hal2814 ( 725639 )
      "I admit that I've never been fond of sports games, just play the sport"

      You are aware that the two aren't mutually exclusive right? I love playing in a wide variety of sports and I also like playing video game versions of a much smaller subset fo sports. Though is I could manage to find 22 people willing to play tackle football, I'd almost certainly pick that over Madden.

      "why do people keep buying the newer game? Slightly better textures? New player rosters?"

      Player roster updates are nice. The textures t

  • Sentence Structure? Cell Structure? (Score:3, Funny)

    by codefrog ( 302314 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:01PM (#16024532)
    Resurrecting a sales slump? Sounds like Sony will be all over THAT action...

  • Interesting (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by hey! ( 33014 )
    Compare this to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST opening weekend box office of 135,634,554.
    • A movie ticket's price should not really exceed 10$, while Madden '07 retails at 59.99$. It's apples and oranges. For the sales to be comparable Madden would have to score 678,172,770$ in sales - a highly unlikely conjecture.
      • I think that depends what the companies care more about. Do they care more about how many people see thier product or how much money they make from it? If its the later, then its a fairly relevant comparison.
      • When my friends and I go to a movie, we each pay for a ticket.

        When I have friends over to play games- we all play the same copy of the game.

        If I had to pay per person for my copy of Halo, I would have paid for at least 10 players by now. Many of whom have never played Halo anywhere else.

        Also, when I am done watching a movie in the theatre, I can't sell my ticket to someone else. I can do that with a game.

        So it isn't an apples to apples comparison, but there are a lot of other factors to look at.
    • Those box office numbers (and, I assume, the Madden sales numbers) are revenue, not profit.

      What was the cost of production of Madden '07?

      What was the cost to make PotC-DMC?

      Those would be interesting numbers to see.

      DG

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
      Sounds like a good analogy. They both suck, and they both have rabid fanbases that will eat up sequel after sequel.

      OK, so I'm bitter. Sue me.
  • After having experienced the incomplete version of Madden 06 for the XBox 360, fans of the series were probably foaming at the mouth for a version of the game that didn't feel quite so rushed. Also, unlike Madden 06, this one is more likely to look and feel like a true next gen title.
    • Actually, this one is missing features that the regular Xbox and PS2 version has this year as well :(
  • I will start seeing Madden 07 in the bargin bins... it didn't get many good reviews.. But sales are good for it because this is the ONLY NFL game you have to pick from.
    • I still maintain that the NFL license shouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately the only games that lack the NFL license just tend to suck from the core gameplay elements. Blitz: the League was a good idea, unfortunately it was executed poorly. I think my fondest memories of a football game have all come from Mutant League on the genesis. Personally, I'd like to see less uberrealistic football games, and more simply fun games.
      I mean, who wants to see the sweat piling up on some fat linesman's asscrack anyway?
    • the sales bin is the only place I buy madden from. i just bought 2004 actually. The fact that madden sells as well as it does says alot for the sad shape of the gaming industry.

  • Almost unbelievable (Score:5, Informative)

    by the computer guy nex ( 916959 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:09PM (#16024586)
    I think people see why getting an exclusive NFL license was well worth it. Football is a sport that just seems to be invented for consoles.

    On a side note I've owned Madden almost every year since the Sega Genesis. The 360 version is the best one I've played hands-down. Gameplay is very realistic (need to focus on run to open up pass, defensive play calling most important I've ever seen), zoomed-in graphics are breathtaking, and the high-definition photos of each player are a great addition.

    I love having a real-life ESPN ticker on the bottom. The UI itself is very smooth and intuitive. The mini games are a blast when you have a few friends over but don't want a longer competition between just 2 people.

  • You might say (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:13PM (#16024610)
    it's doing Madden-ingly well.
  • Lame cookie-cutter game makes record profit, thanks to its identical gameplay to its 235 previous outings, making sure that the "established fanbase" would not get confused.
    Sports-game licences. They're gold mines I tell you. All you need is a team of graphic artists that'll make sure that the hideously pixellated polygon-version of players look somewhat like the real guys. I'm assuming that they found out how to make the controls/gameplay balanced after all these years.
  • Since EA locked up the NFL license with a 5 year exclusivity contract they have eliminated any competition. Its not hard to break sales records when the sheep only have one choice. Strategically you have to admit it was a good move for EA after getting their asses handed to them last year by Sega and Take Two, eliminate the comptetion then you dont have worry if your product is up to par or not. I fully expect the next five years to be similar to the Sega Genesis years of Madden same damn game different

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by joshetc ( 955226 )
      Madden was new once, and didn't have a liscense. Then it got popular. THEN it got a NFL liscense.

      Whats to stop all these other companies from doing the same thing? Anyone remember controlling #4 on Green Bay back in the late 90s?
      • The difference is money, EA paid over $300 million to eliminate competition. Back in the early days there wasnt budget for licensing and companies were lucky to get an endorsement much less a contract with the entire league, also player association and league right were completely separate making any licensing deals awkward.

        To be fair Take Two did quietly stick it to EA and locked up 3rd party rights to Major League Baseball, but they did it a much more generous way, by getting only 3rd party exclusivity th
  • I'm mean really...why are people buying this every year? Just new players I assume. Talk about a ripe market for opensource gaming.
    • On a similar note, I've been saying for years (mostly by talking to myself) that the Superbowl should be converted into a pay-per-view only event and that the NFL should charge $50 to watch it. People will bitch and moan about it at first, but football fans appear to be sheepish enough that they'll bend over in the end to watch it no matter what. Naturally, Superbowl parties will become more popular as individuals group together to spread the cost. I think the NFL could even throw in a few commercials an

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by neo ( 4625 )
        How is that a similar note, exactly?
        • Well, the parent post said: "I'm mean really...why are people buying this every year?"

          So, I figured if they're buying Madden every year, they'd buy a Superbowl PPV package every year, which is something I've been saying for years (mostly by talking to myself).
    • What is this an antislash plant?
    • NFL licensing is prohibitively expensive. No licensing, no NFL player models, and no real time ESPN/NFL stats.

      At best you're stuck with "alternate football league" games in open source.

      Other than that, yes, you're right, football is never going to evolve, it's ripe for becoming an open source game market.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by neo ( 4625 )
        Oh, it's possible... I just leave the logo's, name fields, and player stats open for configuration files that I open in XML format for anyone to edit. Voila... any league you want you can make.

  • It's not because 07 was that great... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mmalove ( 919245 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:31PM (#16024745)
    It's because '06 blew. Every magazine I read indicated that if you had 05, not to bother with 06. So now you've got all your rabid foaming at the mouth by every year's game crowd, combined with the more conservative skip a year or two crowd, all lined up to buy the game.

    08 projection? Don't even bother making the game. Sell a box with last year's game in it again, then make waves in 09. That's what six figure salaries suits call "a three-year-plan".

  • A couple of people almost touched on this but I'm curious if anyone else thinks this means the PS3 is in trouble. Obviously the have sold more copies than there are XBox 360s (if my numbers are correct). How many of you would buy Madden 07 (assuming you would buy it all) for you PS2 only to buy a PS3 in a few months?

  • Piracy (Score:4, Funny)

    by Digital Vomit ( 891734 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:40PM (#16024810) Homepage Journal
    One industry insider reports they would've "earned eleventy billion dollars if it hadn't been for widespread video game piracy and used game sales."
  • My favorite football game of all time was Techno Bowl for the NES. I think the reason I liked it was because it was less like football than any other football game I ever played. In single player mode the AI was a little lacking (ok a lot lacking), but it was a great two player game. In these modern football games I seem to do best when I just let the AI play the game for me because it's better than I am...

    • Quarterback drops back... back... back... back... back... back... goal line... throws... touchdown!!!

      I myself was a fan of the 100-yard pass completion on a 1st and 10 at the goal line. :-)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
      I need to go back and play that one again. There's also Tecmo Super Bowl for the Genesis, and I don't remember if it was better. I do remember that it had more plays, though.
  • This is why. Doing nothing nets profit. Go out on a limb and try something new and you might fail. But oh boy oh boy, rehash last year and you're set.

  • 2007 is better than 2006 so far (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CPE1704TKS ( 995414 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @01:18PM (#16025137)
    I got Madden 2k6 and hated the QB vision. It complicated an already complicated game, and was totally unnecessary. What they need to do is make other parts of the game more realistic, like the timing aspect of throwing balls, not add some unnecessary complexity with which direction the QB is looking. For example, you can basically throw to a player at any point in his route and he will grab for it, whereas in real football that is impossible. The other thing that is very annoying is that defensive backs covering wide receivers can go and block throws even with their backs to the ball. In 2007, QB vision is now an option to increase the accuracy. Great idea, it decreases complexity. It also adds more features to make the running game more unique. I would say 2k7 is a step above, but I'm going to be playing it in earnest this Labor day weekend to see how it really cuts the mustard.
    • QB Vision was an option in 2006's version, it was just on by default. You could however turn it off.
  • I miss the old atari football game circa 1978 at the local pizza joint.
    http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/1970s/f.htm [thelogbook.com]
  • Because there was only ever one good football game. Woot.

  • I call bullshit on waiting. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ShyGuy91284 ( 701108 ) on Friday September 01, 2006 @02:06PM (#16025504)
    People don't wait till the next system to play games right now. They buy the next system to play the next games. EA's slump: A product of a stale market of games. I've never heard of anyone saying "This game sounds fun, but I'd rather not play any games for a year and wait till the PS3 comes out to play games".
  • Best Buy in my area was offering a deal where if you purchased a Samsung TV + Xbox 360 + controller + Madden 07 you got $300 off. Since I was in the market for 3 out of the 4, I went ahead and bought them all, then turned around and traded Madden on CraigsList.

    Thats it. Just wondering if some deals/specials like this drove the sales up slighty.

  • No Co-op mode! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by freebfrost ( 650284 )
    I was willing to give the 360 version a chance, and then found out that the game doesn't support co-op game play, so I can't sit at home and play this with my friends.

    Not only is that functionality not in the 360 version (nor is Owner mode, audibles, and other features), but that co-op play was *removed* from the Xbox and PS2 versions as well. So, for my friend who likes to sit down and play on the same team with his son - too bad! I only play Madden with my friends on the same team - too bad for me!
  • No news story I've seen about this has mentioned that EA has an exclusive license to make NFL video games. I think that has a huge bearing on their numbers. If you want the latest rosters and stats, then you can choose from a wide variety of, um...Madden. That's it.

    The fact is, Sega was making a better product and undercutting them on cost and EA saw the writing on the wall. I think the NFL did a terrible disservice to the fans by selling out to EA.
  • I've been a big fan of the Madden series for as long as it's been on the current gen systems. Madden 2002 was the first game I bought for Gamecube, even before I had the console. I only started getting the game every year because my roommate bought 2003 (mainly for updated rosters) and I found that they had introduced the best feature every: the ability to design custom formations and plays. I even started a website based around this specific feature. Say what you want about geeks and sports, custom playboo

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