Madden first week numbers are in...and are not good. Below are the 2 HD platforms sales.

Xbox 360 Madden 2010 - 584,845

compared to last years

Xbox 360 Madden 2009 - 720,697

Xbox 360 Madden 2008 - 711,258

and

PS3 Madden 2010- 374,429

compared

PS3 Madden 2009 - 437,813

PS3 Madden 2008 - 244,830 (ps3 userbase in NA was very small back then)

Bottom line is that when EA signed this deal, this series was selling over a million units first week on PS2 alone (PS2 madden 2006 1,007,839 first week).

Also, considering that EA is focusing more on the social and family entertainment lately and that their core staff is walking out the company door... http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Nintendo-Wii-EA-Sports-Game,news-4439.html

Is it time for EA to let go of this exclusivity license so other, more equipped and focused companies can make NFL licensed games as well?

Madden 10 sales for ps3 should be a lot higher than the expected second week due to price cut. expect its second week to be about double last years second week.

2 days of sales for Madden NFL 10 as opposed to 4 for Madden NFL 09. Also, I don't really see how EA letting go of the NFL license would benefit them.

Yep, the week was shorter, and legs for both version should be better because of the larger instalbase... so no worries

Damn. Well I didn't know about the week thing. I am secretly hoping that someone else starts making NFL games. I jsut have no more interest for EA's game for some reason...

I'd love to THQ make one :)

Think the above 2 posts have covered the situation, PS3 price cut should help out as well. Supposedly EA had some co-marketing with Sony about this so I'm guessing they knew about this price cut when negotiating this.

I think the most important thing for EA is getting the Wii version to sell like the HD platforms, not got any numbers yet but surely the potential is there for some huge sales? Afterall Tiger Woods and EA Active shows EA Sports can sell.

Yes, they also should let go off the porsche license, but I'm saying that because I want Porsche in Gran Turismo and NFL 2k again, from a business perspective, they should never let go of them.

Roger Goodell commented yesterday that the NFL will have a team permanently relocated to London within 5 years. Also, teams will play in Toronto and Mexico City on a more permanent basis. If the NFL is able to increase it's global appeal, it will only increase the value of the license.

I don't know why everybody makes a stink about EA acquiring the NFL license and shutting 2K sports out, but no one ever bitches that 2K Sports did the exact same thing to EA the same year with the MLB license. Notice that EA doesn't make the far superior MVP Baseball anymore? It's because they can't.

Acquiring licenses to make games happens all the time. One company gets to make a game for a particular movie, not five different publishers. Sports are a mixed bag but ultimately even when there are two or more publishers vying for an audience, there's typically only one sports games worth buying. MLB the Show trumps 2K sports baseball titles, EA's NHL series trumps 2K's NHL 2K series, NBA 2K trumps Sony's and EA's titles. Competition doesn't matter so long as the one getting the license is the right one for the job. EA does a great job with Madden every year, and if any of you really think 2K is god incarnate with football games, you might want to recall that three years later they threw out an absolute stinker in All Pro Football 2K8.

Screw MVP baseball...Bring back Sega World Series baseball.

 But wait...World series baseball became 2K baseball...never mind. Good move 2K...