Sell-Through Up 7% in First 24 Hours for New Record on HD Console Generation. Record Number of Players Competing Online Together on Day One. Biggest Single-Year Rise in Critical Acclaim for an EA SPORTS Game in Four Years.
Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: EA) announced today a huge first day for Madden NFL 13, which launched Tuesday across North America. Madden NFL 13 scored record day one retail sales, record day one online usage and it’s enjoying the best critical acclaim the game has seen in years.
Based on internal estimates, sell-through for Madden NFL 13 was up 7 percent year-over-year on HD platforms with 900K units sold in its first 24 hours on the market, its best start ever on this console generation. The franchise also set a day one online usage record with a 28 percent jump in peak simultaneous users over last year’s first day.
“It was a phenomenal first day for Madden NFL 13, and we have high expectations for this great game to be popular throughout the fall and into the holidays,” said Seong Ohm, Walmart SVP of Entertainment. “We’re excited that our partnership with EA has helped deliver our customers unique access and content to this great game. There’s incredible demand for Madden NFL 13, and it’s easy to see why people are loving it.”
Critics are praising the game with nine scores of 90 or above, and aggregated reviews of Madden NFL 13 show the biggest single-year jump in critical acclaim for an EA SPORTS™ game in four years*. GamesRadar said the game is “brimming with innovation on and off the field” and IGN.com said “it all adds up to Madden NFL 13 being something truly special.”
Not only are fans playing Madden NFL 13, but they’re talking about it. Since the launch of Madden NFL 13 for EA SPORTS Season Ticket consumers on August 24th, there have been 665,464 total social interactions on Facebook and Twitter combined, and the game has been mentioned on average every six seconds on Twitter.
