Table of Contents

 

• Background of the EA Sports Inc.

 

• Background of the Creators
• Trip Hawkins
• John Madden
• EA Tiburon
• Chronological Breakdown of Madden NFL's life
• Historical Context
• Football vs. Baseball 
• The Super Bowl 
• American Youth
• Industry Context
• John Madden Football vs. Joe Montana Football
• Madden vs. NFL GameDay
• Madden NFL vs. NFL 2K
  
• Product Context: Timeline of each Madden NFL releasing by years
• Sales Figures

 

 

Other links:

Madden Franchise

Impact Analysis

Study Discussion

References List

---

 

Madden NFL is an American football video game series founded by Trip Hawkins from Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA). These game series are named after John Madden, a famous coach of Oakland Raiders as well as a former commentator. This game became best seller because of its realistic factors consist of players statistics, playbooks and voice commentary that allows gamers to feel as if this was a real TV broadcast.

 

In addition, the series has been successfully widespread recently. The 2006 version sold 1.7 million copies in the first week after releasing, according to Electronic Arts reports. [1]. That version was also released on different systems such as the Playstation 2, the XBOX, the XBOX 360, the GameCube, the Nintendo DS, the SPS, and the PC. [1]. Nevertheless, these series have not been always successful before. Therefore, let's take a closer look into the background information of this franchise's company, creators, timeline and sale figures from the past.

 

 

Background of the Company

 

Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA), which is established by Trip Hawkins on May 28, 1982, is an American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. This company was successful and famous for several issues:

• It was in the vanguard of the home computer games industry.
• Electronic Arts was also remarkable for promoting the designers and programmers who are responsible for its games.
• This company becomes the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue after Nintendo and Activision Blizzard.   [2]
• EA company has released tons of games (about more than 20 series) which include Battlefield series, Burnout series, Command & Conquer series, Crysis series, Dead Space series, Dragon Age series, FIFA series, Fight Night series, Harry Potter series, Madden NFL series, Mass Effect series, Medal of Honor series, NBA Live series, NCAA Football series, Need for Speed series, NHL series, Rock Band series, SimCity series, The Sims series, Skate series, and SSX series.   [9]

 

To specifically check out all the games, click to this: List of Electronic Arts Games 2012    [9]

 

Since EA Sports released Madden NFL for the first time, it then produce hundreds fantasy games and soon become top five big video games publishers in entire the US. Madden NFL series brought to EA Sports million dollars by million sold copies. For instance, Madden 2010, 2011, and 2012 brought to EA Sports 7.39, 6.35, and 4.64 million dollars respectively on platforms, according to Vgchartz.com.

 

 

 

 

Background of the Creators

 

 

 

William M. 'Trip' Hawkins III was born December 28, 1953. He is an entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate. Hawkins used to be Apple strategy executive and he was originally set to run on an Apple II computer in 1982. Then he left to establish the video game publisher - Electronic Arts. This company was one of the world's largest video game companies and successfully operated and developed under Hawkins' leadership for many years. He also founded 3DO Company  which is short for three-dimensional operating system in 1991. It is a console developer and also a video game company. It was founded in a partnership with seven companies, including LG, Panasonic, AT&T Corporation, MCA, Time Warner and Electronic Arts. Afterwards, Trip Hawkins operated Digital Chocolate which is a video game developer and publisher headquartered in San Mateo, California in 2003. The company focuses on developing games for mobile phones, iOS, and Microsoft Windows. This is also a leading publisher of casual social applications including Tornado Mania, The DChoc Cafe Series, AvaPeeps, and Pyramid Bloxx. Hawkins now holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University with an MBA from Stanford University. [1][3][4][5]

 

 

 

John Earl Madden is legendary NFL broadcaster. He was born on April 10, 1936. He  used to be an American football player and a head coach with the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League, and a commentator for NFL telecast. He is also known for the long-running Madden NFL video game series he has endorsed and fronted since 1988. [6]. He began his pro career as a linebacker coach at Oakland in 1967 and was made head coach two years later, at 33 the youngest coach in what was then the American Football League. He came to Monday Night Football in 2002 after 21 seasons as game analyst for CBS and Fox. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his coaching career in 2006. In the same year, he was also the last color commentator for ABC's Monday Night Football. His last role was as a commentator for NBC Sunday Night Football. [6]. Madden has also written several books and has served as a commercial pitchman for various products and retailers. He retired from broadcasting on April 16, 2009 not because of his health but because he wanted to spend more time with his family and grand children at the age of 73. [7]

 

 

John Madden retires from broadcasting

 

 

 

 

EA Tiburon is an Electronic Arts video game development studio located in Maitland, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1994 and was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by EA in 1998. The studio is most well known for being home to many popular titles under the EA SPORTS label, including Madden NFL Football and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Golf. In addition to the usual titles developed by the studio which include NCAA Football, NFL Street, NASCAR and NFL Head Coach. By the end of 1997, Electronic Arts had published twelve of their games, including Madden NFL 98, Madden NFL 99 and NCAA Football 99 for the PlayStation, Madden 64 for the Nintendo 64, NCAA Football 98 for the PlayStation and Nuclear Strike for the PC. [60]

 

 

Chronological Breakdown of Madden life since 1989 to 2012

 

 

Historical Context

 

Now we can see the popularity of Madden NFL video games, but anyone has ever wondered about what had happened in the past outside of the video games might be somehow influential to its success today.

 

• Football vs. Baseball

 

 

At least a few of you must be more than once having debates with your friends or family members about which sports to be preferred between football and another sport game. There is a never-ending debate of football and baseball. As you can see, the football mostly wins in the debates because people argue about the television ratings. Fifty years ago, no one would have predicted that football would trump baseball about the popularity, but they probably should have. Some people believe baseball was declining its attraction because of drug scandals, big and small market inequality or even the natural ebb and flow of popular entertainment. [11]. Furthermore, baseball players today cannot really show off or prove the fact that they are faster and stronger than those of yesterday. [11]. Consequently, is baseball dying? Unfortunately, according to Andy Benoit (2012) from The New York Times, the ratings, the sport’s own natural evolutionary limitations and the history of similar sports say yes. Conversely, The NFL has simply done something that other sports cannot do. They turned their regular season into must-watch television. Football is a malleable sport that is able to become whatever its audience wants it to be. That's why the N.F.L. is here to stay. Baseball isn’t malleable enough. In fact, football trumps baseball in every statistical ratings category. [12][13]

 

 

[66]

 

According an interview of Trip Hawkins recently with Forbes Magazine, he stated that his dream sport from his childhood always was American football. [14]. Even though he once had been failed in creating a board game centered on his love of sports when he was still a teenage student at Harvard University, his idea of Madden was came up and obviously achieved success in 1989. Obviously, EA Sports' baseball game series have never been a blockbuster when releasing as Madden NFL.

 

• The Super Bowl

 

 

This is the championship game of the highest level of professional American football in the United States - the National Football League (NFL) annually. The game was created from the merger agreement of the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). The first Super Bowl took place on January 15 1967. It was played by the best team from each of the major leagues, The NFL (National Football League) and the AFL (American Football League). The Packers represented the NFL and beat the AFL's chiefs 35-10. In 1970 the NFL absorbed the AFL, the merger was decided so that these fierce rivals could avoid finical ruin. After the merger the NFL was split up into conference the AFC (American Football Conference) and the NFC (National Football Conference). The following and current Super Bowls are played with the best team from each of these conferences.  [64]

 

The day on which the Super Bowl is played is considered as American national holiday which is called "Super Bowl Sunday". [61-62]. Moreover, The Super Bowl has frequently been the most watched American television broadcast of the year. The Super Bowl is also among the most watched sporting events in the world, mostly due to North American audiences, and is second to association soccer UEFA Champions League final as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. [63]

 

Watching and discussing the broadcast's commercials has also become a important aspect of the event. [68]. Because of its high viewership, commercial airtime during the Super Bowl broadcast is the most expensive of the year. Because of the high cost of advertising on the Super Bowl, companies develop their most expensive advertisements for this broadcast. [68]

 

The chart below shows us the history and results of the Super Bowl.

 

 

Super Bowl Winners
Super Bowl	Date	Winner (Share)	Loser (Share)	Score	Site	Attendance
XLVI	2-5-12	N.Y. Giants ($88,000)	New England ($44,000)	21-17	Indianapolis	68,658
XLV	2-6-11	Green Bay ($83,000)	Pitsburgh ($42,000)	31-25	North Texas	91,060
XLIV	2-7-10	New Orleans ($83,000)	Indianapolis ($42,000)	31-17	South Florida	74,059
XLIII	2-1-09	Pittsburgh ($78,000)	Arizona ($40,000)	27-23	Tampa Bay	70,774
XLII	2-3-08	N.Y. Giants ($78,000)	New England ($40,000)	17-14	Arizona	71,101
XLI	2-4-07	Indianapolis ($73,000)	Chicago ($38,000)	29-17	South Florida	74,512
XL	2-5-06	Pittsburgh ($73,000)	Seattle ($38,000)	21-10	Detroit	68,206
XXXIX	2-6-05	New England ($68,000)	Philadelphia ($36,500)	24-21	Jacksonville	78,125
XXXVIII	2-1-04	New England ($68,000)	Carolina ($36,500)	32-29	Houston	71,525
XXXVII	1-26-03	Tampa Bay ($63,000)	Oakland ($35,000)	48-21	San Diego	67,603
XXXVI	2-3-02	New England ($63,000)	St. Louis ($34,500)	20-17	New Orleans	72,922
XXXV	1-28-01	Baltimore ($58,000)	N.Y. Giants ($34,500)	34-7	Tampa Bay	71,921
XXXIV	1-30-00	St. Louis ($58,000)	Tennessee ($33,000)	23-16	Atlanta	72,625
XXXIII	1-31-99	Denver ($53,000)	Atlanta ($32,500)	34-19	South Florida	74,803
XXXII	1-25-98	Denver ($48,000)	Green Bay ($29,000)	31-24	San Diego	68,912
XXXI	1-26-97	Green Bay ($48,000)	New England ($29,000)	35-21	New Orleans	72,301
XXX	1-28-96	Dallas ($42,000)	Pittsburgh ($27,000)	27-17	Arizona	76,347
XXIX	1-29-95	San Francisco ($42,000)	San Diego ($26,000)	49-26	South Florida	74,107
XXVIII	1-30-94	Dallas ($38,000)	Buffalo ($23,500)	30-13	Atlanta	72,817
XXVII	1-31-93	Dallas ($36,000)	Buffalo ($18,000)	52-17	Pasadena	98,374
XXVI	1-26-92	Washington ($36,000)	Buffalo ($18,000)	10-7	Minneapolis	63,130
XXV	1-27-91	N.Y. Giants ($36,000)	Buffalo ($18,000)	20-19	Tampa Bay	73,813
XXIV	1-28-90	San Francisco ($36,000)	Denver ($18,000)	55-10	New Orleans	72,919
XXIII	1-22-89	San Francisco ($36,000)	Cincinnati ($18,000)	20-16	South Florida	75,129
XXII	1-31-88	Washington ($36,000)	Denver ($18,000)	42-10	San Diego	73,302
XXI	1-25-87	N.Y. Giants ($36,000)	Denver ($18,000)	39-20	Pasadena	101,063
XX	1-26-86	Chicago ($36,000)	New England ($18,000)	46-10	New Orleans	73,818
XIX	1-20-85	San Francisco ($36,000)	Miami ($18,000)	38-16	Stanford	84,059
XVIII	1-22-84	L.A. Raiders ($36,000)	Washington ($18,000)	38-9	Tampa Bay	72,920
XVII	1-30-83	Washington ($36,000)	Miami ($18,000)	27-17	Pasadena	103,667
XVI	1-24-82	San Francisco ($18,000)	Cincinnati ($9,000)	26-21	Pontiac	81,270
XV	1-25-81	Oakland ($18,000)	Philadelphia ($9,000)	27-10	New Orleans	76,135
XIV	1-20-80	Pittsburgh ($18,000)	Los Angeles ($9,000)	31-19	Pasadena	103,985
XIII	1-21-79	Pittsburgh ($18,000)	Dallas ($9,000)	35-31	South Florida	79,484
XII	1-15-78	Dallas ($18,000)	Denver ($9,000)	27-10	New Orleans	75,583
XI	1-9-77	Oakland ($15,000)	Minnesota ($7,500)	32-14	Pasadena	103,438
X	1-18-76	Pittsburgh ($15,000)	Dallas ($7,500)	21-17	South Florida	80,187
IX	1-12-75	Pittsburgh ($15,000)	Minnesota ($7,500)	16-6	New Orleans	80,997
VIII	1-13-74	Miami ($15,000)	Minnesota ($7,500)	24-7	Houston	71,882
VII	1-14-73	Miami ($15,000)	Washington ($7,500)	14-7	Los Angeles	90,182
VI	1-16-72	Dallas ($15,000)	Miami ($7,500)	24-3	New Orleans	81,023
V	1-17-71	Baltimore ($15,000)	Dallas ($7,500)	16-13	South Florida	79,204
IV	1-11-70	Kansas City ($15,000)	Minnesota ($7,500)	23-7	New Orleans	80,562
III	1-12-69	N.Y. Jets ($15,000)	Baltimore ($7,500)	16-7	South Florida	75,389
II	1-14-68	Green Bay ($15,000)	Oakland ($7,500)	33-14	South Florida	75,546
I	1-15-67	Green Bay ($15,000)	Kansas City ($7,500)	35-10	Los Angeles	61,946

[65]

 

Here's the commercial success of the Super Bowl. This graph show's how the Super Bowl has increased in revenue and how its ad pricing has sky rocketed.

 

 

Those charts above express the importance of Super Bowl in the society. Annual Super Bowl is considered as a national holiday in the USA which attracts a high amount of viewership. That's why when Madden NFL game series were released, people easier to approach and enjoy it than other sport games (apart from soccer). Therefore, this is also a historical circumstance which leads to the success of Madden NFL video game franchise.

 

 

• American Youth

 

Football has a unique tradition in the US. American football is like an institution in the people of USA. Football gets the center stage of students' activity in the high school. The entire school comes to back their team during tournaments. The homecoming games and dances are nearly bigger than prom. The quarterback of the football team is the most popular guy in the school. [67]. Parents encourage their kids play football. Although many sports teach teamwork, American Football seems to advocate teamwork the most because the goal of football is not possible without the teammates watching each other’s backs and constantly being there for them so that a pass may be made. Young children, both boys and girls start playing football early on. Teams used to be made up only of boys, but now the girls are proving that gender doesn't have to play a part in sports.

 

 

 

Football plays an impact on the youth of America, specifically colleges. For colleges that do possess football teams, one can see that the football teams, in a way, characterize the college itself. Thus, it adds spirit to the college population and shows students' dedication to the school. [67][37]

 

[66]

 

Due to this significance of football, in general, Madden NFL could be considered as a brilliant idea to be created. It somehow emphasizes the teamwork of American culture in the society. 

 

 

Industry Context

 

 

Madden never had and official license to the NFL or the NFLPA (National Football League's Players Association) until 1993 when they released Madden NFL 1994. This game was the first one to include actual NFL football teams. They didn't receive the license from the NFLPA until 1994 when they released Madden NFL '95 which featured real NFL teams with real NFL players. Madden was soon in competition with the NFL 2K series, until they announced that it acquired the sole right to publish video games with NFL teams and players. This diminished any sort of competition that it had with the 2K series, leaving Madden to be the official game of the NFL. [8]

 

As we can see that, Madden fought very hard and took on many competitors to reach the position they are at currently. Let's take a walk back to the very first years to look closer at how Madden won its competition in the American football video game industry. After researching about Madden NFL's competitions through periods of time, we decided to divide the nearly two decades into three stages.

 

• The First Stage (John Madden Football vs. Joe Montana Football)
  

 

By the late 1980s, Electronic Arts Inc had their attention to the Genesis which was a new 16-bit powerhouse because this could be a chance to let Madden really shine with the fluid animation and clean presentation. Besides, SEGA (EA's worst competitor) was interested in developing a new game with 49ers QB Joe Montana as the cover athlete. [16].

 

 

EA recruited Scott Orr from Gamestar to head the production and contracted Park Place Productions to develop. As a result, John Madden Football's 16-bit debut was released in late 1990s. Meanwhile, the SEGA offer a shallow playbook, less realistic game play, and a lineup of only 16 teams. Madden managed a better game play with 28 teams and a pseudo-3D perspective that would become its hallmark. [16]. The two series both were ambitious to crack the top five best-seller list for the system as well as raise the bar for the football video games.

 

Joe Montana Football

 

At that time, BlueSky Software helped the Joe Montana franchise. The next year,  John Madden Football came to the Super Nintendo alongside a new '92 edition on SEGA's console. [16]. When SEGA introduced "Sports Talk", EA immediately added color commentary from Madden himself.

 

However, "an official NFL license" was SEGA's biggest bombshell in 1992. Not giving up, EA released the new Madden NFL '94 the next year with 28 licensed teams and classic Super Bowl teams. Visual Concepts not only kept up with the speed of its Genesis counterpart, but also added a new layer of polish with beautiful scaling effects and a pseudo-3D field. Scott Orr determined to produce a completely new Madden with the help of his teams for the 3DO - the first on a 32-bit console for the Madden NFL '95. They loaded the title up with an unprecedented amount of video, digitized player animations, and the most robust commentary yet in a sports game. [16]

 

• The Second Stage (Madden vs. NFL GameDay)
  

 

As we said above, the 3DO was on its way out to be released, Sony's new 32-bit PlayStation was suddenly set to release that fall. EA put Visual Concepts in charge of reinventing the series which was for the new generation. However, the 16-bit versions of Madden'96 disappointed EA. They stopped their relationship with Visual Concepts. [16]

 

 

Sony's first-party NFL GameDay shipped before the season's end. Thus, Madden was not anymore number one because GamdDay quickly became the most popular sports game on the market. [16]. EA found their way to fight back GameDay by partnering with Florida-based Tiburon Entertainment to create Madden NFL '97. It would push the hardware even harder than Visual Concepts' attempt, with true 3D polygonal stadiums and incredibly smooth graphics. [16].

 

GameDay offered strong competition with a greater depth of control than any EA game. Meanwhile, Tiburon refined their '97 edition with a major push to create the most complicated AI in a football game for the following year. But Sony showed up their new release by going to 3D a year before the Madden NFL series. The drastic competition made these two stronger and the '99 season was the strongest for both franchises. [16]

 

 

 

The GameDay had its own improvements, but Madden made its big jump with moving to full 3D, adding to franchise mode, which allowing players to take on the role of general manager across up to 15 seasons. Consequently, EA was back on top. They purchased Tiburon Entertainment as their long-term partner, and cemented their position as the House of Madden. [16]

 

• The Third Stage (Madden NFL vs. NFL 2K)

 

In 1998, SEGA unfolded their new Dreamcast console that was the first system of the next generation. SEGA also acquired Visual Concepts, the studio that ended their relationship with EA; frankly, it was the studio behind the SNES versions of Madden '94 and '95. These two together provided the top-notch graphics, fluid control, and realistic physics. Besides, Madden 2000 was showed up with an impressive engine that ran at 30 frames-per-second.

 

SEGA released its 2001 edition with a level of graphical polish which allowed players to tweak the computer to play how they wanted. Yet this NFL 2K1 seemed not to be a redoubtable opponent of Madden.

 

With a disappointing entry that coupled terrible graphics with unbalanced game play, the GameDay franchise committed suicide that year. Though it offered some improvements but that series never got any attraction again.  

 

Back to SEGA and EA's competition, with the Dreamcast on the way out, the NFL 2K series came to the PS2 and Xbox, starting with 2K2.

 

[17]

 

 

EA debuted their online game in Madden 2003, whereas SEGA partnered with ESPN to recreate the look and feel of a TV broadcast the following year. In fact, the 2K series launched before Madden at half the price. It managed to sell three million copies that year. [16]. However, Madden 2005 showed up with its new feature as the right analog stick to be used for more subtle control. Madden that year managed to sell nearly twice as much as its rival. [16]

 

Not any components could cut out into Madden's market share. Madden dominated on every platform and its sales seemed like unstoppable each year with its each released game. Finally, NFL put an end to the competition by offering Madden an exclusive license. As a result, Madden won them all; the GameDay series was never continued, and the 2K retooled as a unlicensed game. [16]

  

To have a more vividly and solidly example, this is a video of X-Play presents in brief the competitions as well as the technical development of Madden NFL from 1988 to 2009.

 

[69]

 

 

 

The Product Context

 

This timeline below helps you have a quick look at key moments within Madden franchise that anchor its development.

 

 

 

Here's also a short video which emphasizes the evolution history of Madden NFL from 1989 to 2012.

 

[70]

 

 

Take a walk with us to explore the history of the Madden franchise since 2000 and see how this series grows by each year which marks its development. [10]

 

 

 

 

[10]

 

 

Sale Figures

 

In terms of sales, Madden NFL is always a blockbuster when it's released every year in August, before the start of the NFL season. Since its first iteration in 1988, the game has sold over 70 million copies and counting. Due to football being popular primarily in the United States, the game sells exceptionally well in that region. The franchise occupies four of the top 10 best selling games in the U.S. [25]

 

This chart is the sales figures of Madden NFL between 2001 and 2009.

 

[25]

 

After researching, we got some data of Madden NFL sales by each period of time. Madden NFL 2005 and 2006 are in top ten of best-selling video game of all-time in the United States with 6.1 and 6.7 million copies sold, respectively. [25]. Madden NFL 2007 is the third best-selling video game with 7.7 million copies sold, according to the NPD sales figures. In December 2006, all versions of Madden NFL 07 combined sold 1.9 million copies, it became the best-selling title in that month in all states. Overall in 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of Madden NFL 07 sold 2.8 million units, making it the best-selling video game that year in entire the United States, while the Xbox 360 version sold 1.1 million copies. [25]. Madden NFL 2008 is the seventh with 6.6 million copies sold. As of December 13, 2007, the Xbox 360 version has sold over 1 million copies in the United States. Madden NFL 2009 was released on August 12, 2008 and sold more than 2.3 million copies in its first month across all systems. It has sold 1.87 million on the Xbox 360 as of January 1, 2009. [25]

 

The statistics above are just briefly the sales figures of Madden NFL from the very first days of franchise mode to 2008. We will concentrate more on the sales figures recent 5 entries of this franchise: Madden NFL 2010 - 2013.

 

According to recently released NPD sales figures for August 2009, Madden sold 1.9 million units across five platforms in its first month, around 1.59 million of those for the Xbox 360 (928,000) and the PlayStation 3 (665,000).  It decreased when comparing that to Madden NFL 09 sold 2.3 million units in its first month of sale in 2008. According to NPD data in 2008, Madden 09 on the 360 and PS3 sold a comparable amount (1.64 million) to 2009. In fact, the biggest drops in 2009 came from the PS2 and Wii versions, with PS2 sales dropping by almost 265,000 and Wii sales dropping well over 100,000. [26][28]

 

Here's a chart showing unit sales for Madden's annual release.

[27]

 

EA claims Madden NFL 11 was the No. 1 selling game in North America during August, with sales on all platforms rising about 5 percent year-over-year. The company also states that digital revenues for Madden NFL 11 were up 200 percent year-over-year.

 

 

[30]

 

 

The entry Madden NFL 12 was sold 1.4 million copies in its first week of release. 1.4 million copies of Madden NFL 12 were snapped up in its first week of availability. [19]

 

[31]

 

[32]

 

According to EA's internal estimates, Madden 13 has been sold 900,000 units of Madden NFL 13 in its first 24 hours, equivalent to about 13 Super Bowl stadiums’ worth of fans. The huge first day marked the best start ever for the franchise on this generation of hardware. This marks a 7 percent rise over last year's iteration, and represents the most successful Madden launch this console generation. At launch, the game was available in North America for four systems: Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3, for $40 to $60. The game received high rankings on Metacritic.com, including a score of 82 out of 100 on the Xbox and a score of 85 on the PlayStation 3. [18-24]. EA Sports also announced that its professional simulator sold 1.65 million copies across the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during August 28 and September 3 on the market. [29]

 

---

 

Other links:

Madden Franchise

Impact Analysis

Study Discussion

References List

---

 

Works Cited

 

Pages Cited:

 

1. Beck, Brian. "The History of the Madden Franchise." AtomicGamer. AtomicGamer, 18 Sept. 2006. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.atomicgamer.com/articles/257/the-history-of-the-madden-franchise>.
2. "Gaming Company Top 25." Softwaretop100.org. The World's Lagest Software Companies, 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.softwaretop100.org/gaming-company-top-25>.
3. "Trip Hawkins - Biography." Iam.cnbc.com. CNBC, 14 May 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cnbc.com/id/25210711/>.
4. Snow, Blake. "Industry Bio: Trip Hawkins." Joystiq. Joystiq, 9 Dec. 2005. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/09/industry-bio-trip-hawkins/>.
5. Marriott, Scott Alan. "Trip Hawkins." Allgame.com. All Media Guide, 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.allgame.com/person.php?id=4869>.
6. "John Madden." AllMadden.com. AllMadden, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://www.webcitation.org/5lUYPOfXl>.
7. "Madden Retires from Booth after 30 Years." NBC Sports. NBC Sports, 16 Apr. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30246064/>.
8. "Madden NFL." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_NFL>.
9. "Electronic Arts." G4TV. G4TV, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.g4tv.com/games/publishers/electronic-arts/1948/>.
10. Kato, Matthew. "A Decade+ Of Madden Ups & Downs." Gameinformer. Gameinformer, 11 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/08/11/a-decade-of-madden-ups-_2600_-downs.aspx?PostPageIndex=1>.
11. Benoit, Andy. "Football, Baseball and the Evolving Tastes of Fans." The Fifth Down. The New York Times, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/football-baseball-and-the-evolving-tastes-of-fans/>.
12. Godbole, Medha. "Baseball Vs. Football." Buzzle.com. Buzzle.com, 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/baseball-vs-football.html>.
13. Barra, Allen. "Football vs. Baseball? The Same Old B.S. Argument." Villagevoice.com. The Village Voice Blogs, 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/football_vs_bas.php>.
14. Tice, Carol. "What Trip Hawkins Learned from His First Startup Failure That Helped Him Create Electronic Arts." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 04 June 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2012/06/04/what-trip-hawkins-learned-from-his-first-startup-failure-helped-create-electronic-arts/>.
15. Eric. "Major League Soccer Eclipsed NBA and NHL Attendance; How Does Online Buzz Compare?" Buzz Study. Buzz Study, 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://infegy.com/buzzstudy/tag/soccer/>.
16. Fahs, Travis. "IGN Presents the History of Madden - How EA Took on Every Contender to Become the Only Game in Town." IGN. IGN, 8 Aug. 2008. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/08/ign-presents-the-history-of-madden?page=1>.
17. "NFL 2K." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_2K>.
18. Makuch, Eddie. "Madden NFL 13 Sells 900,000 in 24 Hours." Gamespot. Gamespot, 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gamespot.com/news/madden-nfl-13-sells-900000-in-24-hours-6394000>.
19. Reisinger, Don. "Madden Sales up 10 Percent over Last Year." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 08 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20103229-17/madden-sales-up-10-percent-over-last-year/>.
20. Duryee, Tricia. "EA's Madden NFL 13 Rushes to Record Sales on Day One." AllThingsD. AllThingsD, 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://allthingsd.com/20120830/eas-madden-nfl-13-rushes-to-record-sales-on-day-one/>.
21. Mallory, Jordan. "Madden 13 Sells 900K Copies on Day One." Joystiq. Joystiq, 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/30/madden-13-sells-900k-copies-on-day-one/>.
22. Seitz, Dan. "Madden 13 Is Coming Out This Week, But Does Anybody Care Anymore?" Uproxx. Uproxx, 27 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/08/madden-13-is-coming-out-this-week-but-does-anybody-care-anymore/>.
23. "Madden NFL 13 Sales Numbers Holding Firm." Pastapadre.com. Pastapadre, 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.pastapadre.com/2012/09/06/madden-nfl-13-sales-numbers-holding-firm>.
24. Makuch, Eddie. "NPD: Madden NFL 13 Tops US September Sales." Gamespot. Gamespot, 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gamespot.com/news/npd-madden-nfl-13-tops-us-september-sales-6398137>.
25. "Video Game Sales Wiki: Madden NFL." Wikia. Wikia, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Madden_NFL>.
26. Gaskill, Jake. "Madden NFL 10 Sales "Discouraging," Says EA's John Riccitiello." G4tv.com. G4TV, 10 Sept. 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/699110/madden-nfl-10-sales-discouraging-says-eas-john-riccitiello/>.
27. Akron, Bobert. "Will Electronic Arts Madden Franchise Continue to Experience Negative Growth?" The Davian Letter: Daily Investment Newsletter. The Davian Letter, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://davianletter.com/blog/2011/2/16/will-electronic-arts-madden-franchise-continue-experience-negative-growth>.
28. Magrino, Tom. "Madden NFL 11 Tops August Sales Charts - EA." Gamespot. Gamespot, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gamespot.com/news/madden-nfl-11-tops-august-sales-charts-ea-6274825>.
29. Makuch, Eddie. "Madden NFL 13 Sells 1.65M in First Week." Gamespot. Gamespot, 06 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gamespot.com/news/madden-nfl-13-sells-165m-in-first-week-6394749>.
30. Matthews, Matt. "Exclusive: Top-Selling U.S. Retail Debuts In August Include Kane & Lynch, Gold's Gym Title." Gamasutra. Gamasutra, 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2012g. <http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/121431/Exclusive_TopSelling_US_Retail_Debuts_In_August_Include_Kane__Lynch_Golds_Gym_Title.php#.UL51bYajKSo>.
31. Matthews, Matt. "NPD: Behind the Numbers, September 2011." Gamasutra. Gamasutra, Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134881/npd_behind_the_numbers_september_.php?print=1>.
32. D'Angelo, William. "Americas Preorders Chart, 27 August 2011 - Madden NFL 12." VGChartz. VGChartz, 29 Aug. 2011. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.vgchartz.com/article/87743/americas-preorders-chart-27-august-2011-madden-nfl-12/>.

 

37.    Colleen. "NFL Madden Canonization." A Videogame Canon. A Videogame Canon, 06 Nov. 2012. Web. 08 Dec. 2012. <http://canon.umwblogs.org/2012/11/06/colleens-nfl-madden-canonization/>.

 

60.   "Kick off Your EA SPORTS Career in Orlando." WELCOME TO EASPORTS.com. EASPORTS, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.easports.com/careers/orlando>.

61.   Belkin, Douglas, and Globe Staff. "Super Bowl Underscores Cultural Divide For Many Immigrants, Thrill Is Not There." Boston.com. The Boston Globe, 29 Jan. 2004. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/01/29/super_bowl_underscores_cultural_divide/>.

62.    Cook, Bob. "Make Super Bowl a Holiday." NBC Sports. NBC Sports, 4 Feb. 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/16865062>.

63.    Harris, Nick. "Elite Clubs on Uefa Gravy Train as Super Bowl Knocked off Perch." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 31 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/elite-clubs-on-uefa-gravy-train-as-super-bowl-knocked-off-perch-1884429.html>.

64.    "SuperBowl History, NFL and The Super Bowl!" Super Bowl History. Super Bowl History, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.super-bowl-history.us/superbowl-history.html>.

65.    "Super Bowl Winners - NFL.com." Super Bowl Winners - NFL.com. Super Bowl Winners - NFL, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/results/superbowl>.

66.     Jones, Jeffrey M. "Football Remains Runaway Leader as Favorite Sport." Gallup. Gallup, 29 Dec. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/113503/football-remains-runaway-leader-favorite-sport.aspx>.

67.    Ristman, Matt. "Why Is America So Fascinated With Football?" Approved Article. Approved Article, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://www.approvedarticles.com/Article/Why-Is-America-So-Fascinated-With-Football-/977>.

 

68.   "Super Bowl." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl>.

 

Video Sited:

 

69.    "X-Play Presents The History of Madden." Xplay. YouTube. 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.

70.     "Madden Evolution History." Alvarofxsound. Youtube. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.