Mata Hari

Mata Hari is a former sales representative at Electronic Arts. He stated the following to GameSpot News today that EA was surprised by the fact that game sales in the US had dropped by 40 percent year on year in November last year.

"We have also seen many other sports titles and console titles go as well as all three of our key sports franchises such as Madden, FIFA, and NCAA Football," he said. "However, it seems, if you look at our announcement today, it was not the general lack of commitment to EA Sports and an odd decision for our sports product label, which was focused on delivering the biggest title lineup in EA Sports history."

The reasons for the downturn in sales were twofold. First, EA Sports had generated a roughly 1.4 percent of its sales during November, and the previous month it posted 3.5 percent in sales. This is no surprise, since EA's Madden NFL and NCAA Football franchises had had consistently generated the highest amount of sales in these franchises, despite the Madden NFL series' dominant position on the field. The result, however, was a 25 percent dip in sales year on year.

Another factor is the health of its sports franchise. EA Sports shipped five million copies of Madden NFL 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. This figure is likely because it is up from 2 million in November, a significant number that began a few weeks ago when sales for Madden NFL 2005 reached a peak of 11 million. EA Sports has also put in a lot of effort to do better on its other sports franchises. According to Electronic Arts chief operating officer Peter Moore, Madden NFL 2004 is the best-selling sports game of all time. He explained that in the run-up to the release of Madden NFL 2005, the Madden NFL series surpassed its niche brand. "It's been a critical and commercial hit," Moore said.

According to Moore, the Madden NFL series, which currently has eight NFL teams in total, has now sold 3 million units worldwide. While the Madden NFL series doesn't sell a million units every year, the Madden NFL series is consistently selling more. In 2002, the series sold 50,000 copies of the first game. The next big Madden NFL release, the next installment, will be available this November. Moore told GameSpot that EA plans to double the number of million units sold through the year, so the top three titles for the year will be Madden NFL 06, FIFA Soccer 2004, and NBA Street V3.

For more information on the games, check out GameSpot's preview of Madden NFL 2005.