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PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Sega Goes Cheap to Battle EA in NFL Game Sales? 78

Posted by CowboyNeal from the aiming-for-the-pocketbook dept.
An anonymous reader writes "According to as yet unconfirmed reports on DealRush.com, Sega is going full force at EA's football market share by slashing their football game's price by 60% and only asking $19.99 this upcoming year, instead of the usual $49.99. EA, the current market leader in football games, outsells Sega's title, year after year, by a wide margin. This year Sega may have adopted a new strategy to hook them with price, and follow through with quality in an effort to increase sales. EA has yet to respond. ESPN NFL ships in August for Playstation 2 and Xbox. [A GameSpot report has a Visual Concepts spokesperson indicating there will be 'big announcements regarding the game soon', but there's no official word.]"
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Sega Goes Cheap to Battle EA in NFL Game Sales? More

Sega Goes Cheap to Battle EA in NFL Game Sales?

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  • This will probably... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by schild ( 713993 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @10:51AM (#9397681) Homepage Journal
    This will probably work and Sega will prove you can make bank and charge considerably less than the going rate for a game. After they rake in the beans from their mass quantity of sales the industry will go "[the sheep] are still willing to pay $50" and not change anything. Way to go Sega, keep fighting the good fight to stay afloat!

    • Re:This will probably... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm not sure about that. I am really enthusiastic about Segas approach, but I think that the mass market will view this price point as a lack of quality "Sega's Sports game must suck or something, because it's less than half the Price of EA's!" (People are just dumb like that)

      I hope that's not the case, but time will tell.
      • Especially in the US. Most American consumers seem to have in our minds that bigger is better (i.e. SUV's) and pricier must mean it's better. Usually that isn't the case, but the brand name companies know people will pay for the brand and the company jacks their prices up.

        I am guilty of this mentality as well. I know that there are numerous times, especially at the supermarket, where I will be looking at two items (one store brand, the other name brand). I end up going back and forth and usually thin

    • Re:This will probably... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MacBrave ( 247640 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @10:59AM (#9397775) Journal
      I hope this works. It sucks having to shell out $49.99 for a 'new' version of Madden that essentially contains only roster updates and maybe 1-2 small new features.

      This may force EA to charge more competative prices for it's Madden series.

  • so great (Score:2, Interesting)

    by meatbridge ( 443871 )
    i think it's amazing that competition is helping lower prices. video games have been really expensive for a long while. unfortunately i don't play sports titles.

    • Re:so great (Score:3, Informative)

      by MarkPNeyer ( 729607 )

      "it's amazing that competition is helping lower prices" ???

      I wouldn't say that in an economics classroom - you'd just get blank stares and dirty looks.

      Of course competition lowers pricing - it almost always does. I say "It's about damn time," because the pricing of video games just doesn't make any sense. There aren't enough video game publishers for there to be true free market conditions.

      • Right, but if the market will bear $50 games, they'll charge $50. If you notice, the $9.99 rack at Walmart are games that people assume (rightly) suck, or else they would cost $50.
        • I wonder how many people are like me who basically have their gaming clock set back two-three years and find gaming nirvana on these budget racks. I've given up needing to have the latest greatest and I play catch up with what was new a few years ago.... Granted it doesn't support the gaming industry all that well by buying something at the end of its lifecycle and playing football games where Kordell Stewart actually has good ratings is a bit disorienting. Actually the Sega move already has caused me to
          • I wonder how many people are like me who basically have their gaming clock set back two-three years and find gaming nirvana on these budget racks.

            Sorry, yes, that is how I buy games as well. The racks I meant is the games like "Midnight Import Racer" and "Deer Hunter" and all the games that come in jewelcase only and have never retailed for more than $9.99. I agree about waiting for good games to drop in price.

        • Re:so great (Score:3, Insightful)

          by dubious9 ( 580994 )
          are games that people assume (rightly) suck

          I don't know about Walmart, (there aren't many in the largish city where I live), but when the discount bins in many software stores I have seen are classics. Sure there are noname crap, but I've paid $10 (or less) this year for Black and White, Sam and Max Hit the Road, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, Day of the Tentacle, X-COM Ufo Denfense.

          Case in point: my Girlfriend loves adventure games, but those aren't in style much anymore. When I pointed out that she could

          • Re:so great (Score:2, Insightful)

            by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 )
            The beauty of individual freedoms is that people are free to spend their money on what they like. Perhaps to you a nice car falls lower on the list of importance than a nice chair but for some people - this is reversed. The question is; why do you care? Why do you get so upset over this? Spend your money how you want to spend your money and let other people spends theirs how they want to spend it.
  • Over here (Europe) EVERYTHING is 60(~US$70).

    Only second hand crappy games would be $50. You'd have to dive deep into the bargin bin to get one for $19.99.

    Some games are works of art, some are god awful pieces of software unfit for use. Not only that games are the same price across systems?! Why is the current system of price fixing in effect? Someone call the FCC! The FCC's european counterpart!

    At least PC games have a good spread in price. I picked up C&C:Red Alert 2 for 7!!! Hot danm!

  • I generally only buy one... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ummagumma ( 137757 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @11:08AM (#9397884) Journal
    ...which is always Madden. I know the quality will be good, and know the gameplay. I bought NFL2k a few years ago, and while good, I still preferred Madden.

    At the $20 price point, I will still purchase Madden, but now will ALSO purchase ESPN NFL, to see how I like it. At the $50 price point, I never would have tried this.

    Kudos to Sega, for giving me a chance at their game!
    • ...which is always Madden. I know the quality will be good, and know the gameplay. I bought NFL2k a few years ago, and while good, I still preferred Madden.

      Why buy 4 different versions of the Madden when all they do is update the player list? EA must love you.

      • Spoken like someone who hasn't played the series in any depth. To the casual observer and intellectually shallow person who feels the need to berate anyone who enjoys sports video games and sports in general [in an attempt to feel superior], the Madden series may look like a series of roster updates. This is not the case. I'd explain a number changes that have come about through the years but why bother? You've already judged without any knowledge whatsoever. Go back to thinking you've got some great intell
        • thank you, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

          Tough to teach the ignorant.
        • Well, since you have played the series to some depth...

          (no, I am not the guy who you responded to above...)

          I've played a few sports games, and I've liked all of them. Tennis, golf, basketball (NBA Street) and snowboarding.

          The football games always seemed a little overwhelming, and difficult to pick-up, because there are so damn many options.

          From a casual football fans perspective, are these games easy enough to pick up and play within the first 30 minutes? I'm not concerned about trading players, crea
          • I can only speak for the Madden series as I have only played one of the Sega games but, for the most part, the Madden line is fairly good in regards to only requiring you to understand the most basic aspects of gameplay. The various options that have sprung up in recent versions, stadium maintenance, creating plays, trading players, the draft, etc., can be effectively ignored if you're not interested in.

            In terms of on-field gameplay, I would say that playing the game is no more complicated than a game like

        • Go back to thinking you've got some great intellect; your dream world is where you should stay.

          ROFL! Excellent troll. You had me on hello! :-)

    • I'm exactly the opposite; I don't care for the Madden series. I wish I could pinpoint exactly why, but I just can't. I can't get used to the game, I guess. I dunno.

      The Sega products just always seemed to make more sense. I guess it's because, like you did with Madden, I played a lot more of the Sega NFL products, so I'm just used to the way it goes.

      I'm happy, because now I can buy the new one when it comes out, rather than waiting for it to come down to $20 or less. EA should do the same; I'd buy Madden f
    • It took a few years to get there, but Sega's NFL game has been considerably superior to Madden for a couple years running now.

      • Why do you say this? Keep in mind, I havent touched Sega since NFL2k, and I'm always willing to give a new football game a try...

      • Amen to that. I like the idea of playing a game where I feel in control. Madden is way too fast, it's an arcade game in NFL clothing. The NFL2K games are so much better it's not funny. It's shocking that Sega are trailing so badly, especially against the immaculate 2K presentation. How can anyone enjoy hearing Madden repeat a single line for the 379th time, that had absolutely no relevance to the play that unfolded? I've been playing ESPN NFL on my shiny new Xbox, and hearing Dan Stevens and Pete O'Keefe ba

  • my thoughts (Score:4, Interesting)

    by musikit ( 716987 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @11:23AM (#9398077)
    heard about this yesterday and thought it was a great thing

    eventually EA will cut prices on football games to $20 to combat this and plays will ask "well how come all sports game can't be $20?" then all sports games will have to be cut to $20. eventually people will go "well if sports games are $20 why can't all games be $20?" and then the world will be a better place. for you, and me. just wait and see.
    • Isn't it true that EA has an exclusive contract with the NFL players union, so only Madden will have associated names of players? If so, then that may add to EA's price tag and also be a big selling point, if it is in fact exclusive.

      Personally, if games were $20 or even $30, I would be more likely to try games that may not be that great, or are by a new company, or of a genre I don't particulary know. It seems that more game companies would end up making money, resulting in better developments in the futur
      • I guess you have never played an NFL game.
        They all have the real names, most have the real likeness of the players too.

        I'm pretty sure Madden and ESPN both have essentially the same deals with the NFL and NFLPA
        • way to jump to irrelevant conclusions. i have last years madden. you want to go back a few year too? i've had some madden on playstation. '97 on my computer. '94 on genesis (i think it was 94). Tecmo Super Bowl, and original Tecmo Football for nintendo. i think out of all those, only the original Tecmo didn't have names. but did have likenesses. i could be wrong, it's bee a long time.

          even so, what does your statement have to do with my assumption on the NFL players association contract? Which as noted by s

      • Re:my thoughts (Score:4, Informative)

        by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @12:20PM (#9398728) Homepage
        The whole exclusive players contract thing was just a rumour. [gamespot.com] Ended up being not true.
    • I don't really see it going that way. EA Sports is the most powerful sports franchise in the gaming market, and there are a lot of loyal fans to the Madden series that would rather pay the $30 difference for the game that they're used to playing. There certainly will be some people that get NFL 2K5 instead of, or in addition to, Madden 2005, but I really doubt that it's going to be a significant amount to get EA worried. EA would only drop the price if they were losing a lot of sales to cheaper franchise
      • I don't play NFL games at all, but I pretty much still agree with your point for a different reason. I go to the University of Alabama (and yes, we're a drinking school with a football problem) and I'd say around 90-95% of the guys that go to school down here play EA's NCAA200* line of games on either the Playstation2 or Xbox. I have yet to see anyone down here playing any other college football game. EA Sports clearly has more loyal customers than Sega, and while a price drop from Sega might change a fe

  • Possible Backfire but Great Idea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by the_riaa ( 669835 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @11:40AM (#9398268) Homepage
    This could work great for Sega, but there's a pretty high potential for backlash. Sure, they'll sell a lot more copies - but Sega's market share in the football game market is what, maybe 15% as of now? They'll sell more copies, but at less than half the amount they used to make - that's a nice hit to their profit margins. No matter if Sega's ESPN games are of better quality than Madden, they don't have EA's hype and marketing machine [and tradition]. Some better advertising plus this rediculously affordable price, and they really could gain some ground, even if only for a year. For the record, I bought NFL2K the day it came out for Dreamcast, and I'm a huge fan of the ESPN NFL games - up to the point where they dropped support for my Gamecube [jerks!]. I guess I'll have to play them on Xbox now.

    Speaking of Xbox, that's really where these games stood above Madden, with the Xbox live play - with EA jumping onto Xbox Live next year, forget that advantage.

    But at $19.99? Hell, I'd buy copies for my cross-country friends just so I can whoop their asses on Xbox Live. If Sega does this with their other sports games, their very-excellent NBA and NHL games could catch fire. The ESPN presentation elements is fantastic.

    • No matter if Sega's ESPN games are of better quality than Madden, they don't have EA's hype and marketing machine [and tradition].

      That may be true, but Sega has really built up a solid reputation in the past 2-3 years with their 2kX sports games (especially their baseball game - EA scrapped their baseball franchise and all of its history and reputation to start all over after World Series Baseball slapped it around for several years).

      And with their new publishing deal with Take Two [gamesindustry.biz], you've got to think

    • They'll sell more copies, but at less than half the amount they used to make - that's a nice hit to their profit margins.

      I think your making the mistake that it'll cost them more than $20 dollars per copy. They'll probably still be pulling in a profit if the sold them at $10 dollars. The production costs of a game are quite low and the fixed cost of making the game drop quite quickly as you increase the number of units sold.
    • Just as a minor correction, EA will be on XBox Live this year. Madden will have Live this year.

    • They'll sell more copies, but at less than half the amount they used to make - that's a nice hit to their profit margins.

      Think big picture. Lots of people like to say that Sega's/Visual Concepts football game is superior to Madden, but Madden dominates because of name recognition, marketing, etc. By offering this low price, Sega is hoping more people will be exposed to their game. Then it's possible that people will see that their game is better, and they start changing their brand loyalty. At lea

  • I have one minor worry... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LordPixie ( 780943 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @11:44AM (#9398328) Journal
    Needless to say, developers slashing prices is a good thing. However, I'm worried how casual gamers might take this. The general public seems to have accepted the fact that games big cost $50. Only charging $20 could make Sega's games appear as though they are producing something less than a decent title. I know that I would generally be wary of something that costs 60% less than everything else on the market. This often indicates lower quality in a product.

    Now, I sincerely hope this is not the case. I would love to see Sega thrive charging less for their games. But it would be a real shame if they didn't sell because they undercut too much, and consumers didn't realize the other games are overpriced...


    --LordPixie
    • I agree, reducing the price by 60% is definately a double-edged sword, and they certainly are risking that consumers will think that it's bargain-bin material. Consumers that aren't up to date with gaming news may see this on the shelf and say "Wow, this game's already been marked down to $20, it's that bad? Didn't it just come out? Maybe I should just pay the $50 for the EA title that I know will be of good quality and not run the risk."

      It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but it actua

      • it actually may have been a safer move to sell it at $30 or $40, which is starting to become a trend for smaller games.

        This was almost exactly what I was thinking. ALL the big publishers sell games at 50$. $30-$35 is still significantly cheaper, but is much less likely to to set off warning bells that you might be purchasing a piece of crap. $19.95 just smells....cheap. Sega would garner a higher profit margin with less chance of backlash by just making their games a little more expensive. (I can'

  • Parents Will Love It! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @11:50AM (#9398395) Homepage Journal
    Let's face it, a lot of these games are still being bought by parents and grandparents for kids as gifts, bribes, etc... So slashing the price to the impulse buy level of $19.99 will play well with this crowd. And if the quality is up to previous titles, then for once low price won't mean some crappy knockoff of a hit title.

    Way to go Sega! I may pick up a copy or two (my nephew would love this...). I hope that if successful, it will put some downward pressure on the prices of new releases. Still, for the amount of entertainment, compared to movies for example, game prices aren't too bad. But I still remember in my younger days, that a new game meant a lot of work and saving, so $19.99 could bring in a lot of new young gamers too.

  • I'm not arguing that the teams who work on sports titles are any less busy, if not busier, than teams who work on non-sports titles. But, it has always been my opinion that, for titles that come out every year, it is insane to think that any but the most diehard fans are going to pay $49.99 for Madden every year. What if you are into Madden, NBA Live and FIFA? That's a $150/year investment (more after sales tax)... you can buy another console for that much! That is why I have always bought the last seas

  • Why the $50 price point? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Friday June 11, 2004 @01:33PM (#9399772) Journal
    I've never really understood why sports games cost so much, especially at the end of a system's lifestyle.

    What is the company doing that warrants the $50 price tag? More importantly, what needs to be changed? Updating rosters and adding expansion teams makes complete sense, as does throwing in any redesigned jerseys or uniforms.

    Still...do we really need a brand new graphics engine every year? There's only so much that can be done, you know, and the changes in each console generation are usually relatively small. How about all of the modes that they've been throwing in? Owner? Coach? How about Popcorn Vendor mode? Sell buttery fresh goodness while watching the game as you walk around the stands! The games are just fine graphically and controlwise, and we've got all of the modes that we need: single game, multiplayer, season, playoffs, and practice are really all that a game must have. The others are nice but unneeded.

    The only thing that I can think of that would warrant the $50 price tag is online play, and even that's not really worth it. The practice with sports games as of late seems to be discontinuing online gameplay shortly after the new game comes out, and Xbox Live is already $50 a year. Is a year of online football really worth an extra $50? I'd much prefer it if they offered free and continuous online play without any form of official support or leagues, but that's just a pipe dream...

    I've got a feeling that Sega won't be losing much money from this. Tweak the graphics and modes if you must, but as long as it's got the basic modes and current rosters, it's got everything that's needed.

    • How much does it cost to license the team jerseys, player names, stadium names, etc. for a sports game?

      Nope, not worth $50 for me, but that is bound to keep the dev costs from sinking as low as they could with a mature engine, etc.

  • Not a rumor anymore (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Can already be pre-ordered at Gamestop for 20 bucks.

    PS2 [gamestop.com]

    XBox [gamestop.com]
  • If I can get the updated roster of 2004-2005 this year at $19.99, there ain't no way in hell I am buying Madden football.

    Last year when I rented Sega's football it was just slighty off because it didn't retain statistics as good as madden. That will all change now, especially since the gameplay was always on par.
  • I dont know where you people all shop for your games, but i'm just back from my neighbouhng Fry's and all the EA 2004 sport lineup is already at $19.99. Most of the new PC releases are also around $35. Some games keep the premium and sell at $50, but most dont.

    Moreover, prices fall sharply quite fast for those "premium" games. A few months and they are at $29 or $19.

    On top of that, Fry's often special sales just on the release date of big games.

    With all that, i dont think i've paid $50 for a game in a lo
    • EA's 2004 lineup is composed of last year's games. The upcoming Madden 2005 will be the game that ESPN Football [the game which is being released at 19.95] will be competing against, not Madden 2004 - which you would have seen at Fry's.

      Obviously you don't buy any EA Sports games so why are you posting in this story? You don't have any idea what you are talking about. Yes, Madden 2004 is cheap right now but it has been out for almost a year. This is quite different than it being released at $20. Go post some

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