How the Madden video game franchise became bigger than John Madden
by Matt Foran, Client Service Executive, Nielsen Sports
Madden '09
When the first version of the Madden NFL video game was released in 1988, Knots Landing was the top-rated show on broadcast television, Ronald Reagan was the President, and John Madden was the top color commentator in sports. Two decades later, on the 20th anniversary of the game’s release, John Madden is as popular as ever, and his status as a preeminent sports announcer owes a large debt of gratitude to the video game that shares his name—in fact, a Google search of “Madden” affirms this assertion—9 of the top 10 results are dedicated to the game.
Once upon a time, however, the roles were reversed. John Madden’s name and marketable persona brought creditability to Electronic Arts’ (EA) new video game, which was first released on the Apple II computer. Since then, it has become the best-selling video game franchise in North American history, and in 2008—two weeks after the game’s August 12 release date—EA reported that Madden ‘09 brought in sales of $133.5 million—6% more than the first month sales of last year’s Madden ‘08 release.
Brilliant marketing, a deep understanding of its core fan base, and leveraging the latest technology has helped the game transcend the video game genre by reaching into television, online and mobile screens—and matching its namesake in popularity to become an embedded part of American sports culture. READ MORE
