Want NFL Head Coach 09? Buy Madden NFL 09 for $90
- Scribbled on March 28th, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
- Filed in Industry News, Interviews, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Sports, WTF
Electronic Arts continues to embarrass itself, first begging Take 2 Interactive to allow them to buy the company before Grand Theft Auto IV ships, then dumping the PC version of Madden. Now, they’re forcing people who only want the coaching experience of NFL Head Coach 09 to buy the $89.99 Collector’s Edition of Madden NFL 09 in order to get it.
“NFL Head Coach 09 could totally stand on its own, but I understand where you’re coming from with this question, especially considering the first NFL Head Coach…But Head Coach 09 has a full-fledged development team on it — it’s completely rehauled from where it was before. It’s really robust, and we love that it works with Madden 09, where you can input your custom playbooks into the game.”
In a word, Bull-f’ing-crap. The fact is, interest in Madden is plummeting over the last 2 years, and the only way to get people to buy Madden is to force people to pay extra for two products than one - especially if Head Coach 09 turns out to be a decent game.
The tragedy could be if Head Coach 09 is a good or even great game, it’ll suffer because people won’t be interested in paying extra for yet another Madden game, as 1Up relates:
But this still comes as unexpected news, especially considering that just last month we talked with NFL Head Coach 09’s executive producer Jeremy Strauser to find out how EA planned to elevate the sequel above the solemn reception of the original. “One of the guys on the team,” Strauser told us, “says it’s a game for his dad, who loves the NFL, but isn’t the kind of guy who’s going to pick up Madden.” Guess he doesn’t have a choice now?
(Thanks, 1Up.)
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:19 am
[...] over the original NFL Head Coach in the ‘09 edition, but dismayed by the prospect of having to buy a $90 Madden NFL 09 Special Edition to even check it out: Electronic Arts has announced that a standalone version would hit stores [...]
August 8th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I want Head Coach 09 but I won’t pay $90.00 for it….because as far as I’m concerned Madden 09 as with the rest of the Madden series is ARCADE crap!
So I’m stuck…
August 8th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Head Coach 09 is definitely being released individually on September third, anyone who spent three minutes researching the game would know that. It’s actually cheaper to buy them together on August 12th if you plan on purchasing both of them. This is simply E.A. Sport’s attempt to get good publicity for a good follow up to a piss poor game. And how could you possibly say that popularity has been declining over the last two years if Madden 2007 is the second highest selling video game in history and Madden 2008 has sold more than 4.5 million copies? Did you do ANY research for this or did you just pull “facts” out of thin air? The FACTS are that the Madden series continues to improve and the fans realize it, and with the addition of Head Coach syncing with it, the game will become more personable than ever. Instead of forcing fans to wait a month to develop their playbooks to perfection, E.A. is timing the release with Madden so that die-hard fans have a chance to get ahead of the game.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
This article sucks, the writer needs a clue or 2
August 18th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Um, CJ?
http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/04/23/standalone-nfl-head-coach-09-after-all/
Please, don’t be stupid.