It’s completely normal for Amazon to offer a modest discount on brand new video games, but less than a week after release, the Xbox 360 edition of
Madden has been discounted to $49.99 from $59.99.
Now if we hit the rewind button back to 2009,
Madden 10 wasn’t discounted by Amazon until September 3, a full 20 days after release.
And it’s not just Amazon.
GameStop (
GME), the nation’s largest video-game retailer, has also instituted a $10 price cut on the Xbox 360 and PS3 editions of
Madden. This is worrisome because, in my experience, GameStop hasn’t been as price-aggressive as Amazon.
If we rev up
the time machine, we can see that 2009’s
Madden 10 actually suffered a year-over-year sales decline in its initial month of sales, despite being the highest-rated
Madden game in history at the time, as measured by
GameRankings.com.
Madden 11 reviews thus far are very positive and actually average out above last year’s edition as I write this. However, if the price is being cut so soon, the marketplace is telling us that this critically acclaimed puppy is almost definitely moving less units than
Madden 10, which again, didn’t do as well as
Madden 09.
Via
MinyAnville
Now it always sucks to see a game not do so good in sales, even if it is Madden. But this has been a long time coming for EA. People don’t want to pay full price for a roster update and a few new features. Maybe Madden
taking a year off isn’t such a far-fetched idea after all?