Madden video game posts record sales

[sheppyboy2000]

Still, the success of the latest Madden game illustrates how lucrative the video game industry has become. Its opening-week gross sales rivals some of this year's biggest movie box office draws: "The Da Vinci Code" movie, for instance, drew $102 million in its first week, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

It cost me $5.50 to go see Da Vinci Code. Madden is $50 or $60. Before we start bragging one how the game industry is rivaling hollywood, let's see some proportionate sales figures.

And incidently... FOR SHAME AMERICA. You are only encouraging EA....

[sheppyboy2000]

I also happen to give it about a month to two months before their next game is released to disappointing sales. Then we'll see EA once again decry Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo and their roles in the "transitional period."

[bale]

It cost me $5.50 to go see Da Vinci Code. Madden is $50 or $60. Before we start bragging one how the game industry is rivaling hollywood, let's see some proportionate sales figures.

And incidently... FOR SHAME AMERICA. You are only encouraging EA....



But you can play madden, til next seasons game comes out. I don't think anybody wants to watch davinci code more then once

[sheppyboy2000]

How much you can play Madden versus Da Vinci Code is irrelevant to the fact that EA (or the author) compared the lucrative sales of the VG business with the movie industry but it's a disproportionate scale.

Well, let's put it this way. Let's say you're a musical artist and you busted your ass and managed to sell 13000 copies of your CD at $13 a pop. This makes $169,000.

But then a game developer comes along and manages to sell 3300 copies of their game at $50 making a total of $165,000.

This game company then compares their achievement to yours because of the money grossing value rather than units sold. So I ask again, can the VG business make fair comparisons with the movie industry if they are focused on total grossing amount versus actual units sold? Is the fact that I sold 13000 copies somehow rendered invalid because that game developer sold 3300 copies but came close to matching my bottom line?

[heavyness]

It cost me $5.50 to go see Da Vinci Code. Madden is $50 or $60. Before we start bragging one how the game industry is rivaling hollywood, let's see some proportionate sales figures.

And incidently... FOR SHAME AMERICA. You are only encouraging EA....

they are comparing the two because they are both in the entertainment industry. it is an article from the Associated Press on Yahoo news, so they are going to compare two industries that are close to each other, and use two industries the average persons knows something about.

if the article was written for a gaming magazine, i don't think they would of compared the two [maybe compare Madden numbers to last years of some other big game seller this year]. but the comparison needs to be done because if you look back 5+ years, the game industry wasn't making the money we are now.

[kiaran]

its latest "Madden" football video game grossed more than $100 million in its first week

Ugh. I'll never understand why people insist on using complex digital entertainment systems to simulate a sport like football. Come on people, go outside and play the real thing!

[RabidDonkey]

That makes no sense. It's a valid comparison still. If you and I are both selling donuts, and you sell yours for .50 each and I sell mine for a dollar each and we both make 100 dollars, I'd still compare us and say we did equally well. Sure, you sold twice as many as me, but I sold half as many and still made as much as you. Valid comparison in my book.

He was simply stating that the game industry now rivals in movie industry in their intake of money, not how many they sell. When it comes down to it, how many you sell is not nearly as important as how much the ammount you sold brings in.

[sheppyboy2000]

But you can't really compare money made on a product that costs at LEAST 5 times more than the compared product. That arguement seems a pathetic attempt for whoever is writing the article to make it seem like the vg industry is somehow breaking into the mainstream markets or somehow "hollywood better watch out."

When you look at the hard stats, yes, the sales are impressive. But you can't really compare 2 million copies of a game sold with 11.3 (est) million tickets sold. It's not a feasible comparison. The money is there but the units sold are drastically different. Once a game brags about selling 11.3 million copies in it's first week, then I'll listen to the "We are kicking the movie industries ass" arguements. But until then, the arguement just doesn't hold water.

[heavyness]

But until then, the argument just doesn't hold water.

there is no argument [besides you arguing with... whoever]. it is a simple comparison done to show a point, nothing more.

[Brettzies]

I don't think Madden is a good indicator of how the game's industry is doing. It's like saying Shrek3(when it comes out) grossed $200 million opening weekend so Hollywood must be doing fine.

Still nice when both of those things happen, but they are not the norm, and both based on established fan base to begin with. When Curling'06(that activity with brooms and a big rock on ice) hits it big, then maybe it'll be more impactful.

[heavyness]

When Curling'06(that activity with brooms and a big rock on ice) hits it big, then maybe it'll be more impactful.

http://www.heavyness.com/blog/images/prs06.jpg

if RPS'06 does well, we might see a curling...

[RobertoOrtiz]

CNN: Madden scores $100 million hit (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/fun.games/09/01/electronicarts.madden.ap/index.html)
Quote:
" Electronic Arts Inc. said Thursday sales of its latest Madden football video game grossed more than $100 million in its first week, the biggest launch in the franchise's 17-year history and the latest sign of an improving outlook for the industry.
EA, the world's largest video game publisher, said consumers snapped up more than 2 million copies of "Madden NFL 07" in its opening week, up 12 percent from last year's game launch.

The Madden game is the flagship franchise for the Redwood City-based game maker, with new versions each year ranking consistently as a best seller. To date, more than 53 million copies of the game have been sold. (Watch what the Madden mania is all about -- 1:55 (http://forums.cgsociety.org/javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/podcasts/showandtell/site/2006/08/29/showtell.madden.football.cnn','2006/09/05');))"

>>LINK<< (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/fun.games/09/01/electronicarts.madden.ap/index.html)
-R

[danniesanchez]

Now, i'm no fan of the madden series. I actually prefered the 2k series... Getting people to spend 50 dollars is tougher then getting them to spend 5 dollars. So the comparison here is silly. I dont casually spend 50 dollars, and REPLAY value is certainly NOT irrelevent.

I don't buy music to hear it once, or buy a movie to watch it once.

Playing football for real is fun for sure, but not everyone can get 22+ people together at 3am to go play football. :)

[3DDave]

I guess EA let this one pass without adding in-game adds.

[Apoclypse]

I find the whole $10 vs $50 dollar argument pretty silly. Sure that means that Hollywood sells more tickets, but that also means the videogame business sees better return or at least in this case Madden does. They probably spend less money to produce this game than Hollywood does on their big budget movies so when they get 100 mil right of the bat they have already made profit, while a 100 mil to Hollywood means they just might have broken even (especially the movies being made nowadays). So this tends to draw attention, EA shows that it can compete with hollywood when it comes to sales and infact unlike hollywood they've probably recovered all their money they spent to produce the game (not counting how much they have to pay the nfl for exclusive rights, which sucks cause 2k was a much better game imo, even if it wasn't they kept EA on their toes).

[thoughtlesswhisper]

Comparing number of cinema tickets to number of games sold seems completely stupid to me. They are priced totally differently so you would expect more cinema tickets to be sold as standard.

The comparison given seems fine. Seems as the whole reason for business is to make money, comparing the profits seems like the obvious and only comparison to make.

[heavyness]

ah ha! found the real reason Madden is selling so well!

http://www.heavyness.com/blog/images/madden.jpg

[link (http://www.gameluv.com/index.php?blog=3&title=madden_crazy_wal_mart_s_got_you_and_your&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)]

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