Top Five Video Game SKUs

Electronic Gaming Business, Sept 22, 2004

Top Five Video Game SKUs (August 2004)
Title: Madden NFL 2005
Platform: PS2
Publisher: EA Sports
Release Date: 4-Aug
Unit Sales: 1,112,588
Dollar Sales: $54,142,420

Title: Madden NFL 2004
Platform: Xbox
Publisher: EA Sports
Release Date: 4-Aug
Unit Sales: 509,100
Dollar Sales: $25,103,580

Title: ESPN NFL 2K5
Platform: PS2
Publisher: Take 2
Release Date: 4-Jul
Unit Sales: 448,433
Dollar Sales: $8,897,210

Title: Madden NFL 2005 Collector's Edition
Platform: PS2
Publisher: EA Sports
Release Date: 4-Aug
Unit Sales: 395,811
Dollar Sales: $23,390,230

Title: ESPN NFL 2K5
Platform: Xbox
Publisher: Take 2
Release Date: 4-Jul
Unit Sales: 311,359
Dollar Sales: $8,165,545

Source: NPD Funworld

Despite EA Sports' announcement that Madden 2005 had the '04 sales records, it is obvious that Take-Two took a hunk out of Madden pride this year with an estimated 1.5 million in total ESPN sales. Banc of America analyst Gary Cooper has lowered revenue estimates for EA Sports by 10% because of the successful insurgency, although he insists the damage is temporary. $19.99 price points for triple-A sports titles are not profitable for Take-Two, and it will likely have to go to $29.99 next year, while EA may try to hit back on price and release timing. Nevertheless, the price strategy has gotten ESPN on the broad not only in football but in upcoming hockey and basketball titles that are registering well with users. EA already cut NBA Live 2005 to $39.95. We think ESPN and Take-Two may be wiling to buy market share for another year, especially since we think this franchise has its eye on the next generation of connected consoles and tying the sports titles to online and fantasy league play. Does even mighty Madden have ESPN's TV and print omnipresence to drive users to online play? Nope. The extremely strong performance of the Xbox SKUs relative to the PS2's in both titles suggests how important online is going to be for the sports genre, and by breaking even now in order to harvest eyeballs to the brand ESPN/Take-Two could be looking for a long terms pay off later.

[Copyright 2004 PBI Media, LLC. All rights reserved.]