Here Comes The Boom: EA Sees August "Madden" Sales Up 6% From '07
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Sales Of EA Sports' "Madden NFL
09" Up 6% From Last Year's Version |
EA Sports announced late yesterday it has grossed $133.5M in retail sales from "Madden NFL 09" since its August 12 release, a 6% increase from comparable totals of last year's version of the venerable football title. Unit sales are not set for release by NPD Group until tomorrow, but the sum translates to roughly 2.2 million units sold during the 20-day run, based on the $60 price point for the most popular versions of the games. The total also beat out the total domestic grosses for all of the major movies topping box office charts during August, including "Tropic Thunder" ($83.9M) and "Pineapple Express" ($79.9M). This year's version of "Madden," the first to have a complete development cycle under EA Sports President Peter Moore's leadership, is earning its strongest critical reviews in years. "Just when people were saying we had flattened out with 'Madden,' that there wasn't any more innovation to be had, we're proving the naysayers wrong," Moore said. "We've gone beyond a videogame phenomenon, this is a sports and entertainment phenomenon. You couldn't pick up USA Today or watch ESPN last month without knowing 'Madden' was happening, and the retail push has also been very, very strong." Despite sluggish "Madden" pre-orders that generated concern among industry observes, Moore said sales were also boosted by a revamped version of "Madden" for the Nintendo Wii, one of five EA Sports titles to be released under the "All-Play" moniker, and a $90 collectors version that included some legacy content and a bundled version of the "NFL Head Coach" game. EA Sports predicts more than 100 million games of "Madden" will be played online over the next year.
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