EA's bizarre bragging about Madden NFL '09 sales

Electronic Arts' press release today boasting a six percent increase in "Madden NFL '09's" sales from its August 12 launch to the end of the month compared to "'08" last year is kinda bizarre. I suppose it may have been motivated by concerns that the game was underperforming, but 6% growth to $133.5 million in a year when overall videogame software sales are up a whopping 48% in the U.S. is hardly awe-inspiring. Given the wider install base of consoles, not to mention rising prices as more players switch to 360 or PS3 and pay $60 per game instead of $50, a 6% rise seems like it barely qualifies as staying even.

I'm not saying the game is some kind of flop. "Madden" has always been a huge seller and it looks like this year's version will continue that trend. But EA Sports doesn't have anything more to brag about than usual here, so it's weird they felt a need to put out a press release less than 48 hours before NPD comes out with its August sales data, which should show the same thing.

This press release also wins the award for the most ridiculous comparison I've seen yet of videogame sales to movie grosses. Any games-to-movies comparison is sketchy for all sorts of obvious reasons, mainly having to do with the wildly different business models for the two products, but at least in the case of "Halo 3" and "Grand Theft Auto IV" they could point to opening grosses that beat all-time movie records. Here's what EA said about "Madden NFL '09":

The retail dollars generated from Madden NFL 09 [$133.5 million]  beat dollars       generated by the country’s top blockbuster       movies, for the month of August, such as Tropic Thunder ($83.9       million), Mamma Mia! ($56.4 million), and Pineapple Express       ($79.9 million).

What a random selection. They didn't even all open in August ("Mamma Mia" debuted July 18) and they're not even the top grossing August openers (that would be "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," which bowed Aug. 1 and made about $100 million for the month). But it does conveniently leave out films like "The Dark Knight," which opened July 18 but still made about $150 million in August, and other "top blockbuster movies" like "Indiana Jones," "Iron Man," and "Hancock," all of which made more than "Madden's" $133.5 million in their first two weeks.