"Madden NFL 2005," the latest version of Electronic Arts Inc.'s pro football video game franchise, sold more than 1.3 million copies in its first week of release, the company said on Thursday, citing internal figures.
The strong sales were expected, as the company said pre-orders for the game before its release were running well ahead of 2003, when "Madden NFL 2004" was the best-selling video game of the year.
Earlier this week, retailer GameStop Corp. said the game was already one of its best-selling ever.
Electronic Arts said it has also registered more than 315,000 new user accounts for online play of both "Madden" and college sports game "NCAA Football 2005" on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
While "Madden" has long held a dominant position in sports video games, it was expected to have a stiffer challenge than usual this year from Sega Corp.'s "ESPN NFL 2K5," co-published with Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
In the month of July, "ESPN NFL 2K5" sold just under 800,000 units, well ahead of what the game has done in the past, according to financial analysts, citing data from the NPD Group.
For the first time, Sega and Take-Two priced the game at $19.99, far below $49.99 for "Madden." Combined with strong reviews that placed it at or near the top of the current crop of sports games, as well as an earlier release, the Sega game was seen as more formidable competition than usual.
