EA Sports is already claiming major success with Madden 21 compared to last year’s title, despite mixed reviews from critics. EA Sports issued a press release and an infographic highlighting that sales and player engagement is up from Madden 20. It posted on social media Thursday demonstrating some of the top statistics from this year’s release.
🤯 Over 460K seasons have already been completed in #Madden21 by players‼️
Here are your predictions for the upcoming @NFL season pic.twitter.com/uHsf6guLon
— Madden NFL 21 (@EAMaddenNFL) September 3, 2020
Behind The Madden 21 Numbers
EA claims sales numbers up “nearly 20 percent” year-over-year in its first week in stores. This is a major step for EA after rough reviews and social media trends including #FixMaddenFranchise and #NFLDropEA. However, these claims may be less impressive in the context of a market where overall video game sales are up 30% year-over-year in the latest quarter.
In its social media post, it mentioned Tom Brady’s effect on players. Madden 21 has had an 873% increase in players choosing to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers onto the field. Madden’s engagement numbers are also up 49% from last year. Some of the most popular teams being played on this year’s title include the Baltimore Ravens at number one, followed by Kansas City, Dallas, and Seattle.
EA reports players have played nearly 50 percent more games in Madden 21 compared to the first week of Madden 20. Its new game mode The Yard is also seeing success with more than 17 million games played already played by gamers. In Madden’s franchise mode, over 460,000 seasons have been completed since the game’s release.
“After the most successful year in franchise history, fans are now playing more Madden than ever before. In the last weeks, players have shown their passion for Madden with a lot of great feedback and stellar engagement in Madden NFL 21,” said Seann Graddy, Executive Producer, EA SPORTS Madden NFL. “We truly appreciate the fans who have been playing Madden NFL 21 and we are excited to bring new improvements, content and experiences with our live service updates throughout the year.”
It appears EA and Madden are seeing some success despite mixed reviews from critics and gamers. The success could be a combination of more people being quarantined due to COVID-19 and The Yard being presented as a new game mode. But these Madden numbers are strong and could continue to see a rise as the weeks go on.
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