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Businesses Entertainment Games

ESPN Sports Titles to Scrap $20 Price Point 41

Posted by Zonk from the TINSTAAFL dept.
SansTinfoilHat writes "Gamesindustry.biz reports that 'Take-Two and partner Sega will seek to return pricing to premium levels for the next-generation console versions of [the ESPN series of sports games].' It couldn't last forever." From the article: "Most notably, [the low pricing] has put immense pressure on Electronic Arts' market-leading sports range, with the giant publisher forced to drop prices on several of its key EA Sports titles in order to compete more effectively in the run up to Christmas."
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ESPN Sports Titles to Scrap $20 Price Point More

ESPN Sports Titles to Scrap $20 Price Point

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  • This means one of two things: (Score:3, Funny)

    by superultra ( 670002 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @03:36PM (#11035770) Homepage
    Lowering the price worked really well, or it didn't work at all. Huh.
    • I bought ESPN NFL2k5 because of the $20 price introduction. I'll tell you right now, I am sold! Only thing better in Madden is that it keeps more stats.

      I bought ESPN NBA2k5 because the Sega series has blown away every year of Live since 2001. I don't know about other consoles, but the online mode for PS2 was ridiculously good. That says something, considering I get my ass handed to me!

      In both cases, the roster updates save me the hassle of updating. And I heard if you had the ESPN college games, you

    • Or it worked too well... for the consumer (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @10:38PM (#11038931)
      The $20 price tag worked, the ESPN line was able to outdo EA's line... at first. The problem is EA fought back the way it always did, by throwing money at the problem. Once all sports games hit $20, Sega's advantage was lost and any future attempts to do so again would just be responded by EA by the lowering of prices again. It was a one-shot trick which gambled on EA not being willing to lower the price so quickly.
      • EA never dropped their new games to $20... they lowered the price, but not by that much. And Sega does have one advantage still - their games are better, and the "cheap enough to take a risk" price made sure a lot more gamers are aware of that now. That was the real goal, and sales indicate it probably worked. Won't know for sure until next year, of course...
  • It's most likely one of two things; either it did do very well and they now have a larger installed fanbase on both the ps2 and xbox and they can now raise prices and everyone will see it as it can't be done, or the marketing ploy did not meet the quota they needed to ship and continue shipping so that their would be a profit or not a large enough profit to continue to be successful. Or economical logic failed and Madden pwned them any way...

    • RTFA (Score:4, Insightful)

      by tholomyes ( 610627 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @05:49PM (#11036908) Homepage

      If you read the article, the experiment was successful, and put pressure on EA to lower their prices.

      Also in the article, they are only talking about raising prices for the next-generation consoles-- i.e. the PS3 and X-Box 2. There is no mention of what they will or will not do for the current platforms (only speculation).

  • Every article I've seen has said that they're planning on keeping it at $19.99 and that it has worked really well. Only time will tell.

  • links to sales data? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mckwant ( 65143 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @04:17PM (#11036185)
    I'd be really interested in seeing:
    - the sales difference between last year's ESPN titles and this years, and
    - a comparison between NFL 2k5 and Madden, which I suspect was the primary target of this ploy.

    I seem to recall that the ESPN NBA, NCAA Hoops, and possibly the NHL games got better reviews than EA's lineup, anyway.

    I know I jumped on ESPN's NFL game because of the price point, and I can't think I'm the only one.
    • I don't have a link. But someone posted on another board that NFL doubled its sales. Unfortunately for them, that still means that Madden outsold it by 5X. The figures I recall is that for the 2004 titles (the ones released in 2003, but with the 2004 name), Madden sold about 4 million compared to 400k for Sega. For the new version, ESPN sold about 800k, with Madden projected to about hit last year's number.
      • Thanks for the info. Hard to make a business case with those kind of numbers.

        Dammit. Would've loved the $20 price point to continue.

        • Have you visited any major store at the start of the football season? Every store I visited had Madden prominently displayed, you couldn't miss it. Meanwhile, NFL was hidden in a corner, having the same shelf space as any random Greatests Hits title. With that kind of in store advertisement, plus the sales of last year's game, there's no question that it was not competing in even ground. I've even heard a salesman at a major store that Madden was definitely the better buy, and that 'the other game' was $20

    • ESPN 2k5 sold about 800k in July alone [gamespot.com], which was almost twice what 2k4 sold during it's entire run. We won't know for certain how many units 2k5 will sell till next year but some people are guessing based on the sales so far that they'll end up selling 3 million. So I guess it's safe to assume whatever revenue the lost per unit they will more than made up for in volume.

      See also Analyst calls ESPN pricing 'brilliant' [gamespot.com]. So I guess the lower price really worked out for them.

    • Madden 2005 (X-Box) blows compared to the GC version. It's the worst Madden I've ever played on any system (SNES, PS, PS2, GC, and X-Box). As soon as I'm done taking the Redskins to the SuperBowl in it I'm getting ESPN NFL 2K5.
    • I'd be really interested in seeing... a comparison between NFL 2k5 and Madden, which I suspect was the primary target of this ploy.

      The Short but Sweet Life of Mr. Obvious: A one act play [Mr. Obvious wakes up and heads downstairs] Ahh, time to eat breakfast. Mmmm, that looks good. I suspect I'm the primary target of this plate. Oh look, the school bus. I suspect my kids are the primary target of this form of mass transit. Hmm, time to read the newspaper. I would love to see an article on how the U
  • or really cheap. Then they own you.

  • No Way! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @04:44PM (#11036408) Homepage Journal
    I think those ESPN people are in for a little shocker. Once you cut prices like that on a product that is not the leader in its sector, there's no going back. Madden is king, they can do what they want for the most part, but ESPN is going to find out that they can't hope to stay in the game without some kind of price advantage. Now maybe the retail price will go back to $39 or $49 with a mail in rebate or some other incentive. But toe to toe with Madden at the same price they can't make it.

    Discounts are a double-edged sword. As the auto manufacturers found out, once you start discounting, the customer expects it all of the time. When was the last time you or anyone you know bought a car that didn't have a rebate or discount financing? Only the top end can play without incentives.

    • Re:No Way! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by eamonman ( 567383 )
      Madden is king, they can do what they want for the most part, but ESPN is going to find out that they can't hope to stay in the game without some kind of price advantage.
      Right. As far as I see it, I don't like the EA versions $30 more than I do the ESPN versions. But I'd say that I do like EA (especially NBA Live) maybe $10 or even $15 more than ESPN. NBA 2K5 was the first game I literally threw across the room because the controls were so damn annoying. Maybe it was because they kept throwing the fa

    • Re:No Way! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MBCook ( 132727 )
      The problem with the automakers is that everyone did it. So even if all 20 car makers (just a random number) went back to the old pricing structure, as long as 1 held out they were in trouble.

      In this there is only two players. There is ESPN (the old $20 people) and EA (Madden at $50 or whatever). They can raise their price. The only danger would be if Madden would be cut to $20 (never going to happen). They may lose sales for a year when people realize what happened, but after that things will stabalize an

    • Re:No Way! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by bigman2003 ( 671309 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2004 @07:34PM (#11037705) Homepage
      I disagree...

      I buy football games ones every 2-3 years. And when I did (in the past) I always bought Madden. Because if I was going to pay $50, I wanted it to be something I knew would be good.

      This year I spent the $20 for NFL2K5- and I found out that I like this game a LOT more than I like Madden.

      So, next time I buy a football game (probably next gen Xbox) I will buy the Sega product- even if it is the same price.

      They have a good product, and they just needed people to try it out. Once I tried it, I found I liked it, and now I consider myself an ESPN fan, rather than a Madden fan.

      (Why do the players 'glide' so much in Madden?)
      • Yeah, but in 2 or 3 years, Madden might be better again. Sega might start phoning in their sports games if they can't improve on the gains they made.

        They took a gamble selling the games that low, and they might not have made enough fans to make it worth it. I think they should have dropped the price to $30 or $35, still have a huge price advantage over EA, reap more profit, and kept the price longer. $20 was really startling, especially for a game that devalues so quickly.
    • No one can compete with EA, because they spend all day sodomizing their employees with hat racks, and refuse to compensate them with anything more than gift certificates for mashed potatos from El Pollo Loco.

  • ESPN NFL 2k5 (Score:1, Insightful)

    by ShawnMcCool42 ( 557138 )
    I personally bought 2 copies of ESPN NFL 2k5 and some wrapping paper and tape for $49 and some change post tax. This would have been the cost for me to buy 1 copy of Madden pre-tax.

    I personally prefer ESPN NFL 2k5 as a game anyway. No annoying online bugs that cripple Madden. Now, I play with my buddy who joined the army every day for under 50 bucks. Not too shabby.

    I think that if ESPN can keep their titles at 20 bucks they'll just sell and sell and sell. Think of it, 20 bucks for an online enabled

    • Absolutely. I loathe the business model of yearly games... But I dipped into my pockets for ESPN titles this year, and will do next year. They keep this pricing and I'll gladly buy their titles every year. I'm eagerly awaiting the baseball season... They keep the same price, I'll be buying the ESPN title as soon as it's released.
  • Everyone wants a salary raise!
  • It seems like everyone skipped over an important phrase in that post:
    Next Generation Consoles

    Obviously the cost to develop for the new consoles is going to be higher, so a better return is going to be made by returning to the standard pricing method.

    This would be a bigger deal if it was happening for current game systems, but it isn't.
    • Nah it doesn't work like that. Assume madden sucks even more next year and it bombs out. The company can still find budget from Lord of the Rings or Nascar games to finance future projects. That's why they are like another microsoft. EA is a monopoly that people can't shake off.

  • 19.99 for a game really isn't much. When you look at more expensive newer games selling for 50 or 60 dollars, it's quite a bargain. People are willing to buy a cheap game that may not live up to their expectations than a 60 dollar ones. I know, from personal experience, that the bargain bin ones for ~20 bucks aren't too shabby of a deal, and would guess that many of those increases were just that, a bargain game. Also, there are many who don't buy sports games because they feel that they all feel/play the s
  • Sega, Please reconsider! In the last 6 months (Starting with nhl2k5) I have bought the following 20$ games:

    nhl2k5, Midway Classics 1 & 2, Sonic collections, Katamari Damacy, & Outlaw Golf 2. These are all beloved games.

    I have bought loads of software in the last two quarters, and more than I usually would due to the 20$ price point. It's allowed me to take some chances on games, without the risk of massive late fees- weeks later. I'm not a bad customer; I buy many of the hot new releases at th
  • Am i the only one who readed "ESPN sport titles to CRAP $20 price point". Now if that wouldn't be newsworthy, i don't know what would.
  • Sports titles more than one year old continue to compete in the 20 cent price range.
  • Most notably, [the low pricing] has put immense pressure on Electronic Arts' market-leading sports range, with the giant publisher forced to drop prices on several of its key EA Sports titles in order to compete more effectively in the run up to Christmas.

    ... and there was me thinking that the EA Sports titles had to be made cheaper because the 2004 version was basically a cheap rehash of the 2003 version and the paying customers knew this and refused to buy something at the premium price point.

  • This is no surprise. They realize that the current gen consoles (GCN, PS2 XBox) are pretty much tapped out as far as technical capabilities, plus developers have had a few years to get familiar with development on them making it cheaper to do. I'm imagining that the next generation consoles will be a bear to develop for, at least in the beginning, driving up development costs and therefore driving up retail prices. I'd gladly pay $40 for ESPN NFL 2k6 if it's for the Playstation 3. I think the price hike wou
  • Something tells me that this could be a temporary price hike.

    It makes sense that they'd need the extra money to redo the games for the next gen systems. But once they've got a year or two under their belts, why not lower the price again? It seems to have done wonders for sales and for popularity, and if they can do that once they've got the basic framework in place, I can't see how it could be a bad thing.

    Selling a game at $50 won't make as much money as selling many more games at $20, after all...

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