In 2007, Madden NFL 08 was released on Wii and was met with disappointing launch numbers. However, the number of units sold steadily increased during the following months. In fact, less than twenty five percent of all Madden NFL 08 copies sold in 2007 were during the launch month.
Following their modest success with Madden NFL 08, EA decided to re-brand the series on Wii as a part of their All-Play series. At the launch time of Madden NFL 09 All-Play, the Wii's install base had grown approximately three times from its size at the time of the Madden NFL 08 launch. Due to the much larger pool of Wii owners, it was expected that sales of Madden NFL 09 All-Play would grow as well. Unfortunately for EA, sales remained flat from one year to the next. Whereas in 2007 one out of every 35 Wii owners purchased Madden NFL 08, in 2008 only one out of every 100 owners bought a copy of Madden NFL 09 All-Play.
At first glance it seems as if the All-Play label may have actually harmed the game's image and scared away potential consumers. However, given last year's sales trends, it is possible that most consumers have yet to discover the title and better sales may still be coming. Interestingly, this does not match typical software trends, as first month data will show the majority of sales the game will make in its lifetime.
Upon release of the end of year sales figures, it will be easier to tell if EA's All-Play re-branding was a blessing or a curse.
From August 2007 to August 2008, both the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 3 tripled their installed hardware bases in the United States.
With three times the owners in 2008 as in 2007, one would naturally expect software sales of an annual franchise like Madden NFL to increase.
And, indeed, sales did increase on the PlayStation 3. Sales were up 91 percent year-on-year, from 336 thousand copies in August 2007 to 643 thousand copies in August 2008.
However, Madden Wii sales were flat year-on-year, at around 116,000 units during both August 2007 and August 2008. So, when targeting a userbase that had tripled in size, EA Sports was unable to demonstrate any growth in sales.
