EA Sports Celebrates The 20th Anniversary Of "Madden" Videogame
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EA's "Madden NFL 09" Videogame
To Hit Retail Next Week |
EA Sports Tuesday will release its "Madden NFL 09" videogame, and with "more than 70 million copies sold, the franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary this year in high style," according to Mike Snider in a life section cover-story for USA TODAY. In preparation for the game's launch, EA next Monday will host "Maddenpalooza" at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl, featuring "rock acts and video kiosks." EA Sports President Peter Moore: "We don't so much as launch 'Madden' any more, we celebrate its arrival." The game has generated $2.4B in sales since '95, and the franchise has made NBC's John Madden, the game's namesake, a "household icon." EA Founder Trip Hawkins said, "That whole idea of having Madden help design the game, that whole point of authenticity, gave birth to the brand identity for EA Sports." Marketing Evaluations Exec VP Henry Schafer said that John Madden's "familiarity rating of 60% with the general public and above-average likability rating put him 'in the company of Brett Favre and Joe Montana and not that far behind Tiger Woods.'" And while Madden does not discuss his earnings from the game, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimates that Madden earns between $2-3M a year from the franchise, making up "the largest portion of his income." In this year's game, Madden will provide pregame, halftime and postgame analysis, in addition to his in-game commentary. This year's "Madden" entry also will feature NBC's Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth. Snider notes each year, the game adds "new features, some for realism and others to feed fantasies." In one new feature, Madden "appears, in a holographic effect, to administer a skill test when you start the game," and the game "uses the resulting rating to adjust to your skills" (USA TODAY, 8/6).
TOUCHDOWN: In Calgary, Nick Lewis reviews "Madden NFL 09" and writes, "The best thing I can say about [the game] is that it seems a natural successor to Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5, a four-year old game that was, until now, still the best playing football game on the market." The new "Madden" "not only looks and sounds better, but it plays better, as well, addressing most of our concerns while bringing in a number of new elements we never knew we wanted" (CALGARY HERALD, 8/6).
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