Who Really Is To Blame For The Downfall Of Madden Mobile? The Answer May Surprise You.
For quite some time, years really, there has been an ongoing narrative over the decline of Madden Mobile. Often times discussions over reasons why have gotten heated and out of control. Blame being tossed around as often as a hackeysack at a Phish concert. I will try to shed new light on the culprit/culprits, as well as explain the reasoning behind the decline, as well.
To begin, we must first understand how EA, and all other app providers, actually make money. That can be summed up in one simple word: Monetization. Basically, there are 11 different forms of monetization and the techniques most often used by EA are: In App Purchases, Sponsorship (liked the most recent Progressive Insurance events), Referral Marketing (some crossover with Sponsorship), Collecting & Selling Personal Data (oh yes, read ToS, they do this) and Freemium Upsells. The most common of which, and the ones we're most familiar with are the In App Purchases and Freemium Upsells.
Now there are many who recently have made comments regarding EA losing money and nothing could be further from the truth. Although Madden Mobile ranks only 10th on EA's list of Downloaded Titles. Number 1 on EA's list for February was The Sims™ Mobile with 2 million downloads in that month alone as opposed to Madden Mobile's download tally in February of apx 500,000 (iOS & Android). Now, with The Sims having 2 million new downloads in February alone, we must assume massive revenue being brought in from their #1 game. In Feb, The Sims brought in roughly 2 million dollars for EA. So, with The Sims having 4 times as many new downloads as Madden Mobile and being at the top of EA's list we'd assume their profits must dwarf Madden Mobile's, right? Wrong. During the month of February, while The Sims was downloaded over 4 times as often as Madden Mobile, it made only 1/2 as much. Madden Mobile grossed over 1 million dollars from Android users and over 3 million from iOS.
So, with this being said, finding out that Madden Mobile is essentially printing money at this juncture and because of it, most likely to never pivot and change directions, who do we have to blame? Can we realistically blame a company functioning in a capitalist society for trying to make money and turn a profit? I should hope not. We must blame those who feed the beast, not the beast itself. So, it must be those "whales", right? Those few who spend hundreds each month. They're the ones to blame, right? The ones like Dreamer (seriously, have you seen this guy's team. Wow!), right? Wrong. Take a look at the top 10 items sold in Madden Mobile:
Only 3 of the top 10 items are even double digits and half the list is under 2 dollars. The number one most often purchased item is 5 dollars. So, the guilty party, the ones most responsible for the decline of this game we all claim to love, are those of us making these small micro-transactions. It's not some mythical group of "whales" spending exorbitant amounts of money, oh no, it's people like you and I whom spend $5 here or there and maybe a $1.99 Sideline Pass every other month. We are, in fact, guilty of destroying what we claim to love. It's bordering on Oedipal and Freudian and self-flagalation. So, in conclusion, in order for us to right the proverbial ship, to raise this Phoenix from the ashes, I implore you, we mustn't point fingers and cast aspersions at various people or company's, but instead look in the mirror, realize that we have become what we're fighting against, that we are the culprits, those of us with a mere bronze Contributor Icon are the guilty ones...but, we shall be guilty no more. By no longer making that measly purchase of 500 Madden Cash every 2 months we can truly hurt EA where it matters. But, by design, this can not happen if only a few take this stance. This is a stand that must be uptook by the masses. Then, and only then, when EA's ledger begins to show red rather than black, will we ever see any change in this product we love...well, I should say loved.
thank you to sensortower.com for the statistics and visuals
For quite some time, years really, there has been an ongoing narrative over the decline of Madden Mobile. Often times discussions over reasons why have gotten heated and out of control. Blame being tossed around as often as a hackeysack at a Phish concert. I will try to shed new light on the culprit/culprits, as well as explain the reasoning behind the decline, as well. To begin, we must first understand how EA, and all other app providers, actually make money. That can be summed up in one simple word: Monetization. Basically, there are 11 different forms of monetization and the techniques most often used by EA are: In App Purchases, Sponsorship (liked the most recent Progressive Insurance events), Referral Marketing (some crossover with Sponsorship), Collecting & Selling Personal Data (oh yes, read ToS, they do this) and Freemium Upsells. The most common of which, and the ones we're most familiar with are the In App Purchases and Freemium Upsells. Now there are many who recently have made comments regarding EA losing money and nothing could be further from the truth. Although Madden Mobile ranks only 10th on EA's list of Downloaded Titles. Number 1 on EA's list for February was The Sims™ Mobile with 2 million downloads in that month alone as opposed to Madden Mobile's download tally in February of apx 500,000 (iOS & Android). Now, with The Sims having 2 million new downloads in February alone, we must assume massive revenue being brought in from their #1 game. In Feb, The Sims brought in roughly 2 million dollars for EA. So, with The Sims having 4 times as many new downloads as Madden Mobile and being at the top of EA's list we'd assume their profits must dwarf Madden Mobile's, right? Wrong. During the month of February, while The Sims was downloaded over 4 times as often as Madden Mobile, it made only 1/2 as much. Madden Mobile grossed over 1 million dollars from Android users and over 3 million from iOS.
Only 3 of the top 10 items are even double digits and half the list is under 2 dollars. The number one most often purchased item is 5 dollars. So, the guilty party, the ones most responsible for the decline of this game we all claim to love, are those of us making these small micro-transactions. It's not some mythical group of "whales" spending exorbitant amounts of money, oh no, it's people like you and I whom spend $5 here or there and maybe a $1.99 Sideline Pass every other month. We are, in fact, guilty of destroying what we claim to love. It's bordering on Oedipal and Freudian and self-flagalation. So, in conclusion, in order for us to right the proverbial ship, to raise this Phoenix from the ashes, I implore you, we mustn't point fingers and cast aspersions at various people or company's, but instead look in the mirror, realize that we have become what we're fighting against, that we are the culprits, those of us with a mere bronze Contributor Icon are the guilty ones...but, we shall be guilty no more. By no longer making that measly purchase of 500 Madden Cash every 2 months we can truly hurt EA where it matters. But, by design, this can not happen if only a few take this stance. This is a stand that must be uptook by the masses. Then, and only then, when EA's ledger begins to show red rather than black, will we ever see any change in this product we love...well, I should say loved.
thank you to sensortower.com for the statistics and visuals