EA Sports said late yesterday "NHL 12" generated more than $27M in global revenue during its first week of retail release, best ever for the hockey video game franchise, and more than 451,000 units sold. First-week unit sales in North America and Europe, representing the bulk of sales for the game, were up 19% year-over-year, continuing a recent run of sales momentum for EA Sports. The publisher recently posted initial sales gains as well for both of its football franchises, "Madden NFL" and "NCAA Football." The "NHL 12" gains also extended to online play, as more than 6.9 million connected game sessions were recorded last week, also best in franchise history, and 17% above the initial week of release for "NHL 11." EA Sports also disclosed plans to release a new free NHL social game on Facebook, “NHL Superstars.” Set for release early next month, the game follows several similar Facebook efforts by the publisher, including “World Series Superstars,” “FIFA Superstars,” and “Madden NFL Superstars” (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
SWING & A MISS: The GLOBE & MAIL wrote the PC version of EA Sports' "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters" has been a "big disappointment." There have been "complaints that the desktop game does not include all of the features and crisp graphics found in the console game and that some of the content is available for an additional fee -- similar to what you would find if you play the current version of Tiger Woods Online, the browser-based version of the game." That has led "many to flood EA’s user forum section with angry complaints and comments and a number of gaming review websites report that refunds are now being issued to a lot of people who bought the PC game." EA Sports in a statement said that it is "addressing each customer inquiry on a case-by-case basis" (GLOBEANDMAIL.com, 9/19).
