Madden NFL 13 Delivers Early Rise in Sales

Increased interest towards Madden NFL 13 was evident when Electronic Arts announced at their financial meeting last month that pre-orders were up 25% compared to the same period the prior year. That strength has carried through release, though understandably not at that same level, with the company stating today that first day sales of Madden 13 were 900K between the Xbox 360 and PS3. That represents an increase of  7% vs the first day of Madden 12.

Though online play has been fairly stable particularly for a release week the reliability of the EA Servers for Connected Careers mode has been far less than ideal. That may be due in part to the 28% increase in online usage year-over-year. Server stability will hopefully occur as EA adjusts to the demand and usage numbers even out in the coming days.

Where Madden NFL 13 goes from here becomes the next question. Word of mouth on Madden 12 was fairly good leading to increased YOY sales numbers throughout the holiday season. Madden 13 has seen a more divisive split with improved review scores and many consumers thrilled by the significant advancements while a vocal uprising by those disgruntled regarding the absence of features like fantasy drafts and player editing has also emerged.