Few months are filled with more anticipation for football fans than July. That's the month when summer practices are occurring for both pros and college, and the seasons are so close you can taste it. It's also quickly becoming a tradition that EA Sports' latest NCAA Football hits the market to sate that summer hunger for football.
While it may not quite measure up to last year's success, there is no doubting that NCAA Football 08 performed well – even in the face of competition from 2K Sports' resurrected football franchise, All-Pro Football 2K7. NCAA Football 08 "cleaned house," and took three of the top six slots on NPD's July 2007 chart.
We sat down with Kendall Boyd, Product Manager for NCAA Football, and discussed the Xs and Os of success.
Well, Michigan's virtual season isn't ruined yet
According to the NPD, NCAA Football 08 was the best selling title for Xbox 360 and PS3 and was the second best selling title on PS2 for the July period. This made the 360, PS2 and PS3 SKUs of the game the first, fourth and sixth best selling titles of the month, respectively. Combined, these versions sold nearly 790,000 copies during July.
"We're extremely pleased with NCAA Football 08's performance this year overall," said Boyd. "Obviously we'd love to be the top seller on every platform, but it has been such a great year for software as a whole, so we're very excited with what we have done up to this point with all of the competition this year."
While results were still good, they were a bit lower than last year, where the top three copies sold over 1 million units. This could be attributed to the transition year status in the gaming industry and the fact that this year's July was much more competitive than last year's. Still, the release timing means that fans can pick up the game throughout the season as anticipation for the BCS bowls builds.
"This is definitely a sweet spot for us as a franchise," ventured Boyd about the July release date. "We launch literally weeks before college practices start so we are filling the lull before the season starts. It is also the kickoff to the EA Sports season, so we get to set the tone for other great games like Madden, NASCAR and Tiger Woods."
"Last year we were also the top selling product for the month of July, so again we feel we're right on track to having another breakthrough year," he continued. "Our selling period is literally like the college football season; it is long and goes all the way up through the holidays. We hope to continue to perform well through this time and put up solid numbers taking advantage of the great weekend that is Rivalry Week around Thanksgiving."
USC's in the top slot again
Outsiders to the college game might not appreciate how markedly different things are from Division-I to the pros. Subtleties include how players are recruited into specific systems and stay in them their whole college careers, as well as the atmosphere that accompanies a college campus and the raucous volume of stadiums that makes home field a big advantage.
"I think we did a great job with [the new recruiting and campus legend] features no doubt; we completely reinvented the way you play both Dynasty and Campus Legend," described Boyd. "But I think our real strength is the strong passionate base of college football fans. We really push ourselves to be true to the sport of college football. So we've been able to build a solid reputation over the past 15 years with this franchise and really supply our fans with what they want in a college game. This year is no exception. The team went out and made an innovative, fun, fast paced college football experience that keeps you coming back for more."
"Without a doubt the ability to save your highlights and upload them to the Internet has been our biggest online initiative," he added. "As a company, EA Sports continues to try to innovate in new areas and this is one of those types of features that really pushes the envelope. It is addictive when you get right down to it. Who doesn't want to show the world what it's like to bust open a huge kickoff return and brag about it to your friends? Isn't that really what sports is all about?
"This is also the first year for our product that you can get the ESPN Radio pod cast updates and video streams while you're in the game as well. There is nothing better than sitting around recruiting in Dynasty mode and then getting your real-word news info from the world-wide leader in sports."
Will LSU steamroll everyone?
The NCAA Football 08 ad spots are notable for how they were part of the larger EA Sports ad campaign for the year. Using the tag line, "How does it feel?" the ads feature former college players Matt Leinart and Adrian Peterson talking about how they change Bowl Game history, using the game. It shows off the engine nicely and highlights the individual moments and rivalries that really make college football so dynamic for its fans.
"This was probably the most aggressive marketing campaign that we've done for the NCAA Football franchise to date," commented Boyd. "We leaned heavily into a very solid advertising campaign. Our web creative was outstanding as we hit on several different executions, but by far the most popular was our viral campaign in which you could send a friendly greeting to one of your friends via a Cheerleader-gram. It's not too late to send one to you friend...or rival; just check out our web site if you want to see it first hand at www.easports.com/ncaa08.
"Outside of the online, we also had a great TV campaign in which we enlisted the help of former college, now NFL stars Matt Leinart and Adrian Petersen. Our agency took a very creative approach and 'changed history.' By far my favorite was of Adrian changing the outcome of last year's Fiesta Bowl game against our cover athlete Jared Zabransky."
While overall sales may have dipped in part because of a tougher environment and perhaps the decline of the original Xbox, ultimately the NCAA Football franchise remains very strong and more adopters of next-gen platforms have picked up the game as well. When asked what brought fans to the Xbox 360 and PS3 this year, he responded, "Easily innovation, all-new gameplay and the simple fact the game is fun to play. The game play is fast with big hits and we've done a great job of being authentic to the sport of college football, which is what our fans demand and expect from us year after year. It truly is a blast."
by David Radd
source:gamedaily.com
