Madden NFL 11 was released on August 10, 2010 for the PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360.
Last year after Madden NFL 10 released, I wrote an article, "Madden's Magic Trick", that discussed the overall declining sales of the Madden series, from Madden NFL 09 to Madden NFL 10.
While the NPD data for August 2010 hasn't been released yet, we can take a look at how Madden NFL 11 appears to have been selling during the month of August. With the use of Amazon.com, I tracked Madden NFL 11's sales ranks on the PS3 and Xbox 360 over 16 days in August, at various times each day.
The chart below shows the August sales ranks for Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 and Xbox 360; sales ranks were captured between August 2 and August 31, 2010. The game released on both consoles with a MSRP of $59.99.
Will Madden NFL 11's first month sales increase for both consoles over Madden NFL 10's? Or, will Madden NFL 11 see another year-over-year decrease in initial month sales on the Xbox 360, versus the PS3's gain? Let's take a look at the sales ranks in August:
 |
| Click chart to enlarge |
Chart Info:
***You may not have noticed the asterisks marking August 13, 14, and 15 on the sales graph, but on those days, I recorded only the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 11 discounted to $49.99, the PS3 version was not discounted to $49.99.
Highs & Lows:
The highest recorded sale rank for Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 was #1, on August 10 around 12:30PM.
The lowest recorded sale rank for Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 was #30, on August 28 around 10:55PM.
The highest recorded sale rank for Madden NFL 11 on the Xbox 360 was #2, on several days: August 6, August 9, August 10, August 12, August 13, August 14, and August 15.
The lowest recorded sale rank for Madden NFL 11 on the Xbox 360 was #23, on August 28 around 10:55PM.
Critical Reception:
The first reviews for Madden NFL 11 started being published around August 9, the day before the game released.
Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 has a review score average of 86.21%, based on 21 "professional" reviews on GameRankings.com.
Madden NFL 11 on the Xbox 360 has a review score average of 86.02%, based on 26 "professional" reviews on GameRankings.com.
Neither the PS3 nor Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL 11 have faired well from Amazon.com customer reviews this year, here's an image showing the Amazon.com customer reviews:
 |
| 2.5 Stars out of 5 for both versions on Amazon.com |
I think it will be interesting to see how well Madden NFL 11 has performed, compared to Madden NFL 10, when the NPD data is released for August.
I definitely don't think the Amazon.com customer review scores would help encourage people to buy the game if they are just glancing at the overall score, but perhaps the "professional" reviews convinced enough people to purchase the game at retail stores?
While I didn't get a sales rank for every day of the month, I think that Madden falling off like it did at the end of August is a bad sign for the game.
While I didn't get a sales rank for every day of the month, I think that Madden falling off like it did at the end of August is a bad sign for the game.
If one console will see an increase in sales, I think it will be the PS3 version again, though it does seem that Amazon.com was more aggressive early on with price-cuts to the Xbox 360 version. I guess we will find out in a week or so!
Question:
Did anybody purchase Madden NFL 11, and if so, where did you purchase it? Do you think Madden NFL 11 is better or worse, than other Madden games you have played?
Based off the sales ranks shown, does anybody want to guess whether Madden NFL 11 will see an overall sales increase or decrease compared to Madden NFL 10? I would go with an overall sales decrease, just because of how it fell off at the end of August from being in the Amazon.com Top 10.
You can see prices for Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Amazon.com below:
Based off the sales ranks shown, does anybody want to guess whether Madden NFL 11 will see an overall sales increase or decrease compared to Madden NFL 10? I would go with an overall sales decrease, just because of how it fell off at the end of August from being in the Amazon.com Top 10.
You can see prices for Madden NFL 11 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 on Amazon.com below:
Purchased at target on release day (360). definitly one of the worst madden's ever, again. definitly one of the worst games of the year again. just when you thought '09 and '10 were bad EA trumps themselves again.
ReplyDeleteHey coffee, just wanted to let you know that this comment was bright to you by an apple iPad - butcher
ReplyDeleteGood mornin'. Catching up on Blogs while I drink my coffee this morning before work. :) Not sure I agree with Anonymous #1 - I would have to say it's an improvement over the prior few years' releases in my opinion. I think however, that some of these games that are getting very regular/yearly releases are starting to fatigue buyers who trying to figure out where to spend their money. If you look at this year's Madden as a standalone product, I think it's a pretty good game. I think if you compare it to last year's game, and you already own last year's game, you might not feel that there's enough of an update to warrant a purchase. I actually was planning to run a review on it tonight or tomorrow as time allows.
ReplyDeleteOne sales note I'll be curious about is if it drops off in sales comparable to last year's version. They implemented the online pass this year, which means if you buy the game used, you don't have access to the online features w/out paying some extra on the side - possibly negating the savings of buying it used at a gamestop. Thoughts on that - have you read/seen much on that front? I recall seeing an article on IGN referring to how they believe it's helped their new game sales, though I would think that would be the case in say, months 2-4 more than the first month.
@Anonymous from September 7, 2010 @ 2:15PM:
ReplyDeleteWhat don't you like about Madden NFL 11, compared to the previous versions?
@Anonymous - butcher:
I'm glad to know the air keyboard isn't worth the $500 or $600 they're asking for it...thanks for the feedback on that!
@Chalgyr:
"I think if you compare it to last year's game, and you already own last year's game, you might not feel that there's enough of an update to warrant a purchase."
Which is why I don't purchase sports games or sequels to games very often.
As for your review, I did enjoy reading it, and if anybody else wants to, they can find it at:
http://chalgyrsgameroom.blogspot.com/2010/09/madden-2011-xbox-360ps3-game-review.html
"One sales note I'll be curious about is if it drops off in sales comparable to last year's version. They implemented the online pass this year, which means if you buy the game used, you don't have access to the online features w/out paying some extra on the side - possibly negating the savings of buying it used at a gamestop. Thoughts on that - have you read/seen much on that front? I recall seeing an article on IGN referring to how they believe it's helped their new game sales, though I would think that would be the case in say, months 2-4 more than the first month."
I'm not really sure how their online pass will or won't affect sales. I really think GameStop will have a solution to it, by higher trade percentage, or just giving less money for Madden NFL 11 trade-ins, and then being able to sell the used for less.
I think it's really interesting that THQ was the first company to implement the online pass system, and even more interesting how quickly EA followed in their steps.
Really though, are people that are purchasing last year's version of Madden used worried with playing online? Probably not, so it could backfire on EA and THQ, with gamers just sitting on the sidelines(haha) and waiting for each new year's version, to buy the previous year's version at a cheaper used price.
Thank you three for the comments and feedback!