Has Tiger damaged EA's golf series?

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 19 July, 2010

Analyst reckons so.

The scandal surrounding golfer Tiger Woods' personal life might have hurt sales of his golf game, an analyst has said.

According to sales data, first month sales of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 plummeted 68 per cent compared to the launch of last year's game. The Wii version saw an 86 per cent decline.

Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz told Gamasutra that sales of the Wii version were "particularly catastrophic."

"Although this is probably due in part to the fact that last year's version shipped bundled with Nintendo's new Motion Plus controller, we are concerned that Woods' scandal woes may have permanently damaged the sales potential of what we believe to be EA's third most important sports franchise, behind Madden and FIFA," Creutz said.

In January, EA Sports president Peter Moore backed Woods.

"Our relationship with Tiger has always been rooted in golf," he wrote on his blog.

"We didn't form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm's length endorser. Far from it. We chose to partner with Tiger in 1997 because we saw him as the world's best, most talented and exciting golfer. We struck that partnership with the assumption that he would remain near or at the top of his sport for years to come."

And later that month, Moore told CNBC that despite the scandal, "we've seen no negative impact on sales".

Perhaps EA's sales woes aren't entirely Woods' fault. Creutz said both Skate 2 and Green Day: Rock Band also under performed. Skate 3 is down 40 per cent from the two month total for the original, and Green Day sold only 82,000 units across three platforms. Ouch.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MrChuckles #1 2 years ago

    I bought it at the weekend...

    It's seemingly a lot more difficult than Tiger 08 the last one i played... Used to get -10 a round on that one at Amateur level, now i scrape by at Par or -1.

  • melch #2 2 years ago

    "Green Day sold only 82,000 units across three platforms. Ouch."

    ouch indeed,

    shame

  • bdc #3 2 years ago

    That's because Green Day is shit (and should have been released as DLC anyway) and the golf games are shit, and people are finally coming to their senses.

  • Jackface #4 2 years ago

    Analysts are paid huge amounts to do little more than make educated guesses using exactly the same source material we all have access to, and occasionally some sales figures we don't have access to but to which they can make their desired 'claim' stick to no matter what, really. When they get it wrong, they ignore it and 'revise their outlook'.

    I wanna be one. I'd get it right exactly the same amount of times.

  • Jackface #5 2 years ago

    As if him having sex with women (shocker!) has got anything whatsoever to do with the quality of the game, anyway.

  • LiamK #6 2 years ago

    If you're going to use that argument, you might as well say "As if having his name on the box has anything to do with the quality of the game anyway."

    He's on the box to make people think "oh, Tiger Woods is good as golf. He has endorsed this, therefore this must be a good golf game." If the first thought people have when they see the box is "oh, Tiger Woods likes sleeping with people who are not his wife", then their initial reaction might not be to buy it.

  • effinjamie #7 2 years ago

    I'd say he has damaged the franchise,,but that's got nothing to do with his off course antics, more to with the franchises reliance on having a big name. Would much rather have a golf game more in the style of Links,were the games focus is on the courses and gameplay

  • dingo75 #8 2 years ago

    +1 for bdc

    I still feel a big videogame crash coming although those "analysts" won't see it until it's here like usually.
    The tons of shovelware on the Wii and other consoles + Iphone / Ipad apps + Browser games + Facebook apps can't be gobbled up as fast as they have to by the poor consumer.
    Most are time restricted and can't play 24/7 :p
    Why should I buy a golf game every year? The rules haven't changed, the motion-control isn't new anymore, the courses / holes should be the same with maybe a few minor inclusions + I don't care if Tiger has a few more polygones or not compared to last year's offering.

    Hopefully this crash will flush out all the "cancer" in the buisness like DLC, DRM etc. and leave creative developers with a new chance to return to the gaming world as it once was before "analysts" decided how shit has to run.

  • FuzzyDuck #9 2 years ago

    If by "Tiger" he meant "sub-par annual updates", then yes, Tiger has damaged sales.
    Edited by 1 at 19/07/10 @ 18:47

  • Bursk #10 2 years ago

    The only thing Tiger did wrong was to get caught (turd in the punch bowl etc.).

  • sarcasmoidosis #11 2 years ago

    Nothing to do with the plummeting of Wii sales in general, maybe?

  • cherryuk #12 2 years ago

    who cares!, Everybody's Golf if fun, varied, challenging and easy to play. Who wants to see the Terrible Tiger do keepie-uppies anyway?!

  • onezeonx #13 2 years ago

    I bought 2011 BECAUSE he cheated :p

    I want my games like my woman...cheap and easy....but make it hard now and then ;)

  • Yuroko #14 2 years ago

    They should make the South Park version of the game. Looked much more fun.

  • thepiedpiper #15 2 years ago

    the title of this article sounds like a daily mail headline

  • paulf #16 2 years ago

    probably cause its been essentially the same game for the last what 4 years a solid game no doubt but really much the same. They need to go the way of tiger woods online with the console versions I'd say

  • holloguts #17 2 years ago

    Always was a bad golf game with bad gfx and extremeely bad animation. Only slight cosmetic changes year on year, it's always been a case of buying the same game with a different title page.

    So soon after release 4 new DLC courses available for sale. It seems that courses are created to sell before the game is finished these days.

    Tiger Woods may be a great golfer, his private life I care nothing about, it's his business no-pne else's, but Tiger Wood Golf is just a good name on a bad product.

  • kingnothing12 #18 2 years ago

    Please can we make these games bi-annual so atleast they can put more effort and not just update small gameplay niggles each time, i haven't bought a tiger woods game since 06 and i much preffered the one's on the ps2.

  • felastica #19 2 years ago

    Yeah, its all Tiger's fault noone can see the point in buying the same game they bought last year and having to pay to download all the same content again. And again. And again.

  • feistycheese #20 2 years ago

    Personally, I dont care if Mr. Woods got caught in a nunnery with his pants down, I buy a game because of how it plays, not because of the guy on the front of the box.

    Im just waiting on the PS Move before I get this, so I imagine sales will increase come September time.

  • Greggywocky... #21 2 years ago

    It's a much better game now if you play in the new sim mode. I've played about 10 tournaments so far and only made 1 cut, whereas previously (or in other modes) I'd be 10 under after the first round...

  • makeamazing #22 2 years ago

    "Green Day sold only 82,000 units across three platforms. Ouch."

    I just didnt think GD were that big a band..or perhaps people have had their fill... though i fully expect Queen GH to sell by the bucket load next year. :)

    With regards to the Wii, I agree with the sentiments of others here that some of those games that may have sold well before on this platform will continue to fall... why buy Golf last year and buy it again this year (somehow i dont think Wii owners will do that).

  • LHH #23 2 years ago

    I thought it would be more to do with EAs $10 thing if you buy it secondhand, although how I don't know.
    Too much of the same?

  • Rpt81 #24 2 years ago

    Intriguing to see the Green Day flop, given that one EA guy was claiming it would be more popular than RB Beatles.

  • Rodster #25 2 years ago

    I don't give a crap what Tiger does in his life or whether his wife is trying to play a mini game with a 3 iron chasing him around the house.

    I like his golf games and i'll keep buying them as long as they're good. I liked TW 10 (Wii) and I bought this years version both for the 360 and Wii.

  • SHPanda #26 2 years ago

    Constant yearly updates with absolutely no difference between them except some courses have been spared for DLC is the reason sales are down, that and the sales of most games are down due to the economic climate and the fact quite a number of the casual market have gotten bored now.

    Tiger Woods should be made into game that's updated every 2-3 years IMO.

    As for Skate and Green Day sales, I have no idea what to say about Skate, but I know at work we have never had much stock of Green Day, almost everyone who asks for it we have to turn down, so demand is probably there to up those sales to a slightly more respectable but still disappointing number, stock just isn't available to do so. I bought it myself and I'm enjoying it, however if you want a game like that to sell you at least have to advertise it. The Beatles was such a large release with massive advertising, and while Green Day don't have quite the same pull factor, if advertised well they could have sold many more copies of the game.

  • PoundHound #27 2 years ago

    I skipped '10 because I was getting bored with Tiger. I've bought '11 only to find the game has gone backward in every aspect (graphics, gameplay). I would like to think that is what is hurting sales and, hopefuly, EA will finally do something radical to the series to freshen it up.

  • hy4000uk #28 2 years ago

    It would help if the lazy cunts at EA actually changed up the formula

    and maybe the Wii version bombed because people got wise to EA's shitty Wii software?

  • costa_k #29 2 years ago

    I wonder why the reason I will not be getting this game isn't mentioned by anyone: EA's Online Pass activation code,this is the first game to use this kind of lock.Am I the only one pissed of with this?

  • Kerome #30 2 years ago

    Sales across the industry have been depressed this year, so I would not be surprised that a combination of franchise fatigue and general slump would be responsible by most of it. Did Tiger's public peccadillo's contribute? Almost certainly it gave it a push, made the series more vulnerable to the underlying trend. Tiger's fault? Meh, doubt it.

    Just about the only things that are going to be immune will be the biggest of the big shooters, eg Halo: Reach, CoD, etc, and WoW Cataclysm. Oh, and casual gaming, lol. Small is the new big!

  • Gromit #31 2 years ago

    They should bring back the Outlaw Golf series from the original xbox. It was great fun with friends & would work well online where Tigers cold sim approach can wear thin.

    Tiger Woods 09 was great, but I haven't replaced it because the last 2 have been the same. As EA bought out the company that made Outlaw Golf (unless they did it to close down Tiger's one competitor), maybe they could resurrect it ?

  • dot.dot #32 2 years ago

    Of course he's damaged the sales. Look at the statistics. A 68% drop and an 86% drop. Sales have suffered for Skate 2, not exactly the most popular 'franchise'. As for Greenday Rock Band, that was never going to sell anyway, I mean who chose Greenday? That was a poor choice. Point is Tiger Woods games sell big all the time, its a long established franchise. The Wii figure especially must be incredibly disappointing and its directly related to Tiger having so many affairs. That is what Tiger Woods is famous for now, that will never EVER change now.

    EA would be better off giving that Chinese girl a chance, do some interesting interactive tutorials and watch sales go straight back up. They won't though. I suppose single men in 25-54 bracket sales will remain the same but a lot of the wives won't get it now for their husbands, favouring any alternative. Similarly a lot of family men won't want to get ribbed by the kids and look elsewhere. And its that latter market that will impact more and more each year. In conclusion get rid of Tiger, stupid little prick.

  • jonsaan #33 2 years ago

    Surely nobody gives a rat's arse?

  • knightmt #34 2 years ago

    People are sheep, I quite like the graphics this year.

  • LHH #35 2 years ago

    EA would be better off giving that Chinese girl a chance

    Do you mean that yummy Michelle Wie?

    I'd buy it

  • NewbieZilla #36 2 years ago

    People buy golf games. Ha, ridiculous.

  • darkmorgado #37 2 years ago

    Perhaps casual gamers are just more resistant and savvy when it comes to buying incremental updates?

    "Oh look, a new Tiger Woods game is out!"
    "How is it different from the one we already have?"
    "Erm - he can wear some new clothes now, and there are some new courses!"
    "Sorry, not paying 40 quid for a couple of new courses."

    I think the "casual" crowd are far more resistant to annual updates than core gamers (with the offset being that they would possibly be more open to DLC)

  • darkmorgado #38 2 years ago

    I just didnt think GD were that big a band

    Nah, they were MASSIVE when I was in school. You were mocked if you didn't like them....

    ...which was in the 90s. Then they released Nimrod, and their standing soon plummeted.

    These days they are regarded by "the kidz" as corporate sellouts trying to look cool (not my opinion - taken from talking to a lot of teens in my line of work), and "too old" to be wearing eyeliner and acting all rebellious when they have over 10 albums under their belt and are all chummy with Bono.

  • beep #39 2 years ago

    I prefer games which don't have associations with specific people.

  • citizenHUNTER #40 2 years ago

    Downloaded the demo and was very unimpressed. I find the graphics doing a lot of that wishy washy focus pulling which just ends up blurring everything, especially the edges of everything and frankly (having not played a realistic golf game in years) I found the character models still look pretty clunky and nowhere near as good as I'm sure they could be. Not to mention the horrible EA menus (I have no idea why anyone thinks EA presentation is good at all). I know I'm dissing a game I've barely played but first impressions were poor and I'm having much more fun playing a very solid and accurate feeling game of golf via Everybodys Gold World Tour instead, where in spite of the over-the-top courses and characters, it actually has a solid, simple, reliable way of doing things.

  • RandomRash #41 2 years ago

    Whats the difference between santa and tiger woods? santa stops after three ho's

  • buggrit #42 2 years ago

    I would have imagined that Skate 2 underperformed this year, given that it was released last year.

  • Madder-Max #43 2 years ago

    you'd have thought that these analcysts would be aware of the impending real recession

  • pinhead #44 2 years ago

    Well I am still playing '09. We played this online to death. I see no reason for the move to version 11 (until EA switch off the 09 servers that is..........).

    Might not bother with another update unless there is a massive overhaul, for instance in the graphics engine.

  • Doctor_What #45 2 years ago

    Does EA really not understand that a lot of the appeal of Rock Band is that you can buy a load of songs by different bands so that when your friends come over you can all play something you like? I have enough trouble finding four people who like The Beatles enough to play their game with me, so I wouldn't stand a chance of finding four people who like Green Day enough to buy a game entirely based on their music. One or two Green Day songs, sure, but a whole game? Not a chance.

    I really do wonder what's going through execs' minds when they bank roll these things.

  • jebus #46 2 years ago

    Skate 3 surely?

  • Spooke #47 2 years ago

    I haven't bought this year's games because I'm waiting for the PS Move and the update, then I'll swap formats from Wii to PS3.

  • oreillymj #48 2 years ago

    Bought TWG08 and have hardly played it. There was too much American non related golf shite to wade through to get to the actual gameplay.

    Plus figuring out how to play with 2 players requires a Phd.
    IIRC, it wouldn't allow both players to use their own Dualshock. Instead we could only use 1 controller which had to be handed back and forth.

  • LondonSquare82 #49 2 years ago

    What I have never understood with Tiger Woods golf games is how other titles have gotten better looking since they first launched on the hardware, but this still looks like a first attempt at a next gen game.

  • 00.00.01 #50 2 years ago

    Yeah. That's why I wait for John Daly's ProStroke Golf. With Move-support.
    C'mon, there's an honest, hard-drinking, hard-gambling man who plays golf too.
    No dirty secrets, WYSIWYG.

  • knightmt #51 2 years ago

    @oreillymj
    They have sort of dealt with this, when you load players now you have to use the controller that you wish to use the player with to load them as the default profile, you could do this with 10 but it did not say default. Very strange it took me a while to figure this out last year. It is still poor that you cannot change the controller when setting up a game. I cannot remember how it was in 08.
    Edited by 1 at 20/07/10 @ 13:41

  • Acrid #52 2 years ago

    Maybe people have just realised that they can buy a new (good, exciting, interesting) game rather than spend £40-50 on a half-arsed update of a game.