Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Madden's fanbase crosses new lines

The cult also known as Madden Nation gathered for the official nationwide release today, which marks the start of the most profitbale quarter for EA Sports.
I noticed two interesting facts about the latest version of Madden 09:


1. The game has transcended the sports fan market and is officially a part of pop culture.

2. The Madden "cover curse" is nothing to scoff at.

On the first point, the Madden 09 AD features gamers from all age groups and both genders. The 30-second commercial shows the fans exchanging taunts and trash talking, including a father and his daughter. Obviously, the ad attempts to illustrate how the game has transcended from sports to pop culture as a whole.
As the NFL's popularity continues to surge and spread, Madden 09, which is expected to sell nearly 3 million copies,has developed such a passionate and wide fanbase that its official release party, located the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, had a superbowl feeling of its own kind Fans met NFL all-stars and rocked out to concerts by Good Charlotte, Bustah Rhymes and others.To give some perspective to the growth, I clearly remember Madden's status 12 years ago, when we just went to the mall, grabbed it off the shelf, spent our summer lawn-mowing money and ran home.

With all the release hype, it's hard to believe that sales for the product actually declined in 08, but analysts credit that to the shift from the old XBOX and Playstation platforms to the new ones. As more americans make the leap to the new technology, the game's following should continue to spread.

As for the curse, it's a long-held belief that the star player selected to appear on the cover is due for either a serious injury  or controversial story in the following story: I.E. - Mike Vick, Garrison Hearst, Shaun Alexander and now, Brett Favre. The original concept for the 09 cover was to honor Favre's career with the Packers, but as many of you already know, his rocky return forced him to leave Green Bay in favor of the New York Jets. The curse lives on.

Posted By Matt O'Hern at 09:05 AM
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