Not being a sports fan and not owning any of the sports offerings from EA Sports or Sega ESPN, I can' t help but pay close attention to the battles going on between the two. When Sega went multiplatform and up until this point, it hasn' t been much of a battle, it' s basically been a slaughter with EA Sports TOTALLY dominating the Sega' s sports games in sales. Sega' s ESPN football games normally sold in the low hundred thousand copies across both platforms while EA went on to sell millions. I' m sure it wasn' t helping morale much over at Sega of America to keep getting totally trounced by the competition so thoroughly even when their football games were arguably just as good if not better at times.

But now it seems as if Sega of America has finally done something right! Their co-publishing deal with Take-Two Interactive and the new budget price seems to have paid off quite nicely with ESPN NFL 2K5 selling 792,000 copies back in July.

It' s not Madden caliber sales of course but it' s definitely a step in the right direction :)

I did a google search on the sales performance of Sega' s ESPN Football game and this newsbit popped up:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/17/news_6105043.aspx

NPD reports July sales that sizzle

Another company that increased its market share was Take-Two. The choice to release its football game earlier than EA’s Madden--and at a reduced price of $20--paid off handsomely. The sports game reportedly sold 792,000 units in July. Tony Gikas of Piper Jaffray noted, " In our opinion, the incredible strength of ESPN Football 2K5 is surprising and will likely cut into Madden Football 2005 sales at some level."

Here' s another interesting bit I read from: http://www.redassedbaboon.com/index.cfm?show=blog_detail&id=285

October 18, 2004

ESPN sidelines Madden, NHL


ESPN' s low-price, high-quality games may have knocked some of the wind out of EA' s Madden and NHL, analyst PJ McNealy predicts.

McNealy says that Electronic Arts' September quarter reports today will likely show that Madden 2005 sales are down more than 20 percent this month, due in part to ESPN NHL 2K5, and that sales of NHL 2005, hampered by the NHL lock-outs and ESPN' s NHL 2K5, could be down more than 50 percent in September.

He notes that neither short fall will have much of a financial impact on the company, though the psychological impact could be significant.

" We believe that while (Electronic Arts) has been under pressure in September retail sales in North America... (Electronic Arts) sales in the EU have remained strong and the September quarter should be inline," he added.

McNealy then outlined the possible negative and positive news that could come out of the reporting.

On the positive side you have EA meeting or beating their September quarter expectations, maintaining or raising December expectations, PSP not delayed, EU sales continue to grow and the new slim PS2 sells well.

On the negative side you' ve got EA missing their September quarter or lowering their December predictions, Madden sales continuing to fall, PSP launch delayed, sales of the new PS2 not good, and a holiday season stock sell-off.

It sounds like a pretty mixed bag, though I think we can go ahead and assume that the PSP won' t be making Christmas in Japan and frankly I can' t imagine the slim PS2 invigorating EA sales that much.

I' ll update the site later when EA' s report goes public and we can score McNealy' s performance.

I am literally DYING to know the total sales of Sega ESPN 2K5 up to this point!!
Can you say SALES CHART WHORE???? :)