EA's Madden NFL 2005 Runs Up the Score
Biggest First Week in 15-Year Franchise History
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 2004--Electronic Arts today announced that, based on internal data, Madden NFL 2005 sold more than 1.35 million copies at retail stores within the first week, making it the biggest week one launch of a Madden NFL Football game in the franchise's fifteen year history.
"Once again, EA SPORTS has delivered the best football experiences in the market," said EA Vice President of Marketing Todd Sitrin. "Both our Madden NFL 2005 and NCAA Football 2005 games have posted extremely high review scores and the strongest launch sales in the history of their franchises."
"Somehow Madden NFL 2005 outdid itself, after last year's huge launch, this year's was even bigger and better," said GameStop President and Chief Operating Officer Dan DeMatteo. "We spent a lot of time before last week preparing our store managers for the biggest retail event we've had in the past year, it was a great week for GameStop and Madden fans all over the country."
"No other game generates the kind of consumer excitement and traffic that Madden does," said Debbie Mola, Vice President of Merchandising at EB Games. "The passion of the Madden consumer and the anticipation for its launch makes Madden the most unique retail experience of the year."
Based on internal tracking, EA estimates:
-- Madden NFL 2005 had the biggest week one launch in the history of the franchise, selling more than 1.35 million units.
-- NCAA(R) Football 2005 was the #1 selling video game on the PlayStation(R)2 computer system in July 2004.
-- With double digit sell-through percentage increases this year, both Madden NFL 2005 and NCAA Football 2005 are tracking ahead of last year's record volume, when independent data showed they were the number one and number two selling football titles for the year.
-- Within a month of NCAA Football 2005 shipping and with Madden NFL 2005 on store shelves only a few days, EA SPORTS(TM) football titles have registered more than 315,000 new user accounts to play online through the PlayStation 2 console and on Xbox Live(TM).
"The excitement we're seeing over Madden NFL 2005 and NCAA Football 2005 is at an all-time high," added Sitrin. "Yet again EA SPORTS fans are telling us loud and clear that they're fired up for our 2005 roster of games and if Madden NFL Football and NCAA Football aren't enough, NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, NBA LIVE 2005, NHL 2005, FIFA Soccer 2005 and March Madness 2005 all are coming out soon -- delivering all the innovations in gameplay and online features any sports gamer can want.
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Daniel says: Yesterday it was Pokemon, today it's Madden. Why in the world do so many people continue to buy these games year after year when they've barely changed?
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Why do so many people assume not enough has changed for the buyers/fans of the game? I choose to buy it, because it's certainly added enough to an already great game. It's not as if buying Madden prevents me from buying any other great game. I love football, and all the seemingly small additions amount to a lot for me , personally.
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As for comparing Pokemon to Madden, hmmmm. I like Pokemon and I think it gets a raw deal from it's haters. I consider Madden to be mere product, designed purely for sales, while Pokemon is a legitimate classic game that's been tarnished by and overshadowed by related product (think Pac-Man or Frogger). Four years ago I would have defended Pokemon because as much as a rip-off the Stadium games and "director's cuts" (Yellow, Crystal) are Pokemon Red/Blue is one of the best and most original games ever and Gold/Silver is an amazing sequel that improves on everything SSBM style.
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Originally posted by: The Omen
Continue on until 2005, where its almost a staple of football fans. It's basically a given football fans will buy it.
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Originally posted by: The Omen
Continue on until 2005, where its almost a staple of football fans. It's basically a given football fans will buy it.
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I'm a football fan, and I'm not interested either Madden or ESPN 2k. I guess there must be something wrong with me.[Q/]
Obviously, there are more fans of football then there are fans of the video games, but anybody who buys Madden is obviously a football fan.
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not surprising at all. #1, the videogame industry is huge now. #2, it's online for xbox now. double standard? no, there is no double standard. it's all in the heads of fanboys. As I've said before it's not in the nature of sports games to change drastically. And when Nintendo releases sports games (in 2-4 year waves, not annually) they have made very little changes at all, and still don't get shat on either. It's sports games... they're different...
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Originally posted by: mouse_clickerQuote
Soul Calibur 2 had everything Soul Calibur had and so much more- so why did it recieve a bunch of 9's when the original got 10's? Going by the Madden principle shouldn't it had been reviewed just as well if not better? Why does Madden deserve continuously higher scores while Nintendo deserves continuously lower scores? Both games follow the same principle yet one is chastised and the other praised- THAT'S what I call a double standard.
Obviously you don't read every review, especially for the sports games. I used to think there weren't much changes to them at all, until I started reading every review (from multiple magazines and online sources) and I now realize they do alot year to year to make the games different and better. Soul Calibur 2 got excellent ratings, it did not do alot more than Soul Calibur 1 either. It was also released almost 3 years after the introduction of the PS2. While Soul Calibur 1 was a LAUNCH title for the Dreamcast and was done so well it's still regarded as one of the best DC games... ... ... ...
You seem to blatantly ignore the fact that Nintendo's sports games which are released in 2-4 year waves (not annually) don't receive criticism either and they make about the same amount of changes in them that EA does on a yearly basis for there sports games. Why don't you talk about games EA makes that are not sports games, like MOH, Sim City, NFS, LoR, Bond, etc. Those games get just as much criticism as any other companies games that are not sports games.
You say there is a double standard because you dislike EA because they make games that don't appeal to you and they're so successful doing it. Let the hatred go, every successful company in the industry makes the industry stronger. If games don't appeal to you, it doesn't mean they're garbage.