EA's latest Madden release displays retail decline

The latest addition to Electronic Arts' Madden football series sold more than 1 million units in its first week on sale at retail, signalling a decline for the franchise -- although it's unclear by how much digital sales are offsetting this decline. Last year's Madden installment sold 1.65 million units in its comparable launch period, a significant number more than Madden NFL 25 managed last week -- although EA already noted in its latest financial guidance that it expected Madden unit sales to decline. Colin Sebastian at analyst firm Baird Equity Research believes a number of factors played into the lower sales, including a higher average price point for the title, and retail delays due to the upcoming hardware refresh. He notes, however, that the game's online Ultimate Team features made record revenues last week, suggesting that EA's digital transition is playing a key role in filling that retail decline.