Does anyone else think it's funny that EA Sports dropped the price of NBA Live 2005?

[GameFreak]

After the way they talked when VC's anounced that their games would be $19.99, this just tells me that VC's strategy is working.

It really is brilliant, they hit EA where it hurts and now lots of people that would not have tried their games have played them and know how good they are.

I'm going to pick up NBA 2K5 later today.

How long before EA drops the price of their games to $19.99?

[StriderKyo]

I haven't seen the August NPD numbers, but I get the impression NFL 2K5 did very well this year - it had two spots in the July top 5, and it came out on the 20th of that month.

Top 10 Video Games - July 04

1. NCAA FOOTBALL 2005
2. ESPN NFL 2K5
3. SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2 (PS2)
4. ESPN NFL 2K5
5. NCAA FOOTBALL 2005
6. SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2 (XBX)
7. SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2 (GBA)
8. SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2 (GCN)
9. DRIV3R
10. TALES OF SYMPHONIA

The question is, will Sega keep the price at $20 next year? And what kind of upgrades can they continue to afford to offer at that price?

EDIT - Found the August numbers, can't seem to find september yet. Sega made up ground on EA, and their two-month figures on Xbox are actually better than Madden. EA's still way out in front though.

1 PS2 MADDEN NFL 2005 1,112,588 $54,142,420
2 XBX MADDEN NFL 2005 509,100 $25,103,580
3 PS2 ESPN NFL 2K5 448,433 $8,897,210
4 PS2 MADDEN NFL 2005 COLL 395,811 $23,390,230
5 XBX ESPN NFL 2K5 311,359 $6,165,545
6 XBX T.CLANCYS BLACK ARROW 158,218 $6,157,931
7 PS2 SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2 129,492 $6,076,589
8 PS2 NCAA FOOTBALL 2005 94,559 $4,687,620
9 XBX HALO 88,488 $2,652,439
10 GCN MADDEN NFL 2005 87,404 $4,307,765

[GameFreak]

Thanks for the numbers.

I think Sega will keep the price of their sports games at $19.99 and I don't think the quality of the products will suffer at all.

[Drewbacca]

Does anyone else think it's funny that EA Sports dropped the price of NBA Live 2005?

I wasn't going to say anything.

[Tracer]

Well, it's nice to see competition actively having an effect, however, is this like the whole "gamecube outsells everything for x month*" kind of thing, or will this seriously tarnish EA Sports sales from this point on?

*Outsold only because it was cheaper and at the same price it would get burried.

[Diff-chan]

Well, it's nice to see competition actively having an effect, however, is this like the whole "gamecube outsells everything for x month*" kind of thing, or will this seriously tarnish EA Sports sales from this point on?

Undoubtedly the former. I mean, look at the dollar figures: $102 million versus $15 million (and Im not counting the GC Madden dollar figure). While its nice to see Sega put some sort of pressure on EA *finally*, they only did it by gutting their revenue and profits. Considering NFL2K5 was a full-featured upgrade and they would have to keep doing that to stay in the race quality-wise (look at what happened when NFL Fever skimped on additions & upgrades)... I just cant imagine them keeping this up. Something's gotta give.

[kingoffighters]

Undoubtedly the former. I mean, look at the dollar figures: $102 million versus $15 million (and Im not counting the GC Madden dollar figure). While its nice to see Sega put some sort of pressure on EA *finally*, they only did it by gutting their revenue and profits. Considering NFL2K5 was a full-featured upgrade and they would have to keep doing that to stay in the race quality-wise (look at what happened when NFL Fever skimped on additions & upgrades)... I just cant imagine them keeping this up. Something's gotta give.

Yah, it is too bad.... The revenue comparison is not even close. It is too bad really, too many people will buy Madden just because of the name regardless of what game is in there. Not saying Madden is a bad game, but people will buy it as long as it stays at least a marginal upgrade.

[MVS]

How long before EA drops the price of their games to $19.99?

The same day that they decide they want to remove sega entirely from the sports gaming market.

[gamevet]

Undoubtedly the former. I mean, look at the dollar figures: $102 million versus $15 million (and Im not counting the GC Madden dollar figure). While its nice to see Sega put some sort of pressure on EA *finally*, they only did it by gutting their revenue and profits. Considering NFL2K5 was a full-featured upgrade and they would have to keep doing that to stay in the race quality-wise (look at what happened when NFL Fever skimped on additions & upgrades)... I just cant imagine them keeping this up. Something's gotta give.

While I do agree Sega took a huge cut in profits, it at least will give the product brand recognition. NFL Fever sucked. The only reason it sold well, was because of it's online play. Now that Madden is on Live and ESPN 2K5 is as well, there's no way that game could have competed.

[Tracer]

i'm going to agree with BOTH diffx and gamevet on this. While something probably has to give (I've yet to see figures and facts that say Sega and VC are starveing as a result of this) Sega's ESPN games are gaining a considerably large toe-hold in the sports games bracket. Much larger, as far as units sold through, than when they had a monopoly on dreamcast (albeit they made a signifigant amont more per title w/o hardware fees and charged 50). Units sold through is almost as if not just as important as total profit in the long term. Sega MAY raise thier price slowly over the years, what they are likely aiming for it consumer attention and 19.99 got it. What is clenching it is the quality and presentation of the games (ESPN carrys the last in spades). They KNOW a better product won't beat Madden, they are finding a cheaper and better product is (while it is not beating it in units or money, it's gaining much faster than I presume EA antisipated. Live was bumped in price and its release pushed up, Sega followed suit by pushing their release up - They for once have EAs attention and that clearly means something).

There are alot of things going on with Sega's sports games right now, one of which is that it's not entirely being published by Sega (if I remember correctly, Take-Two has some form of involvement with the games publishing). Next year, and the year after will be some tell-tale years for this course of action. One might assume, as I do, that Sega will not linger long on the 19.99 price-point. They may for another year, and then begin to, probably slowly, raise the prices of the games. All in the name of getting people to try something other than Madden... EA however, will not be and is not content to see lower than expected sales of thier grandest of all cash-crops.