Madden Videogames - The New Wheaties Box? 19
Thanks to Slate for their article discussing the Madden football game series' enormous popularity. The article suggests: "To a new generation of football players, landing on the cover of the latest version of the game is a career-defining experience, the way an enormous shoe contract, or the Wheaties box, or the cover of Sports Illustrated once determined which sports stars had hit the big time." It also points out that "In the last two years, only the Grand Theft Auto games sold more copies than Madden", and Wired News are also running a story on the Madden franchise, which debuts its 2004 version this week, and was recently voted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.
John Madden (Score:2)
It's sold so many copies past, present and future, that man is set for life...
Re:John Madden (Score:3, Funny)
Then why the fark do I keep hearing about "BOOM! Tough Actin Tinactin!" from the guy? =P
Re:John Madden (Score:4, Informative)
IIRC, Madden (well, his company, Goal Line) makes around $10 in royalties for every copy sold new ($5 for the classic editions which retail for $20).
He makes about $3 million a year from ABC for MNF (plus the expenses of the Madden Cruiser); not bad for less than 100 hours of work a year (He does 18.33 broadcasts per year (17 regular season games, 1 playoff, and every third Super Bowl) with a normal length of 3 hours.
Endorsements aren't as lucrative as they were (when he was on CBS, he was one of the top endorsers out there), but probably good for about a million a year.
Royalties from EA probably come to another $5 million a year.
Re:John Madden (Score:1)
Madden sells far far more than $25mil a year for EA.
In fact, according to this article [gamedaily.com], Madden NFL 2002 sold nearly 4 million units. For a $10 royalty, that would be $40mil.
I have no idea how much Madden makes per copy, so he may in fact make $5mil...that just means that his royalty is $1.25 per copy...
Re:John Madden (Score:2, Flamebait)
I remember reading all the EA people hate him because he won't even go there once a year for a release (all the voice over work is done at a place of his chosing).
EA should consider moving away from Madden for two reasons. One the guy is like 300 lbs and is likely to die at any moment from any number of weight related issues. The second is the game is excellent independent of this jerk off shouting "Boom, that had to
This takes me back... (Score:4, Interesting)
The great part is, I know it's not reflecting *real* football perfectly, but as a game, it's always had phenomenal replay value, and anytime two hardcore football fans get together to play it, it can be more entertaining than the real thing...
Re:This takes me back... (Score:1)
I liked Sierra/Dynamix's entry: the Front Page Sports: Football Pro series. It was much better from a fantasy league standpoint (actual fantasy league, not this rotisserie bullshit); indeed, even though they haven't made it in years, I actually belong to an FPS league, The Fantasy World League [fwl.org.uk], which is populated largely by former World League and NFL Europe players.
Better and worse than a Wheaties box (Score:2)
Re:Better and worse than a Wheaties box (Score:2, Funny)
DecafJedi
Re:Better and worse than a Wheaties box (Score:1)
Way to go Wired! (Score:2, Funny)
I can't believe Wired was recently voted into the Pro Football HoF...that's awesome! I wonder why I didn't see it mentioned on espn.com. I'll have to check out Canton next time I'm passing through Ohio.
Re:Way to go Wired! (Score:1)
madden cover (Score:1)
Don't forget the Madden Cover Curse... (Score:2)