World Cup games boost annual FIFA sales

With folk already paying out every year for annual updates to the FIFA series, some have argued that summer releases of licensed titles for the World Cup and European Championships are a bit overkill. But sales numbers suggest otherwise.
I wondered that as well, because this is my first go round in a World Cup year,” EA Sports boss Peter Moore told MCV in an exclusive interview. I thought maybe our customers could get all footballed out. But my team were very confident.

They said that what happens is that the World Cup game introduces the franchise to an even bigger slice of the mass market. They use it as an on-ramp to a full blown FIFA game in the fall.

We can check all the way back to the Mexico World Cup in ’86 and see the pattern: ship a World Cup game, watch sales of the main game go up a few months later.”
Another World Cup effect might be Moore’s rather surprising suggestion that the US could be FIFA 11’s most successful territory.

The UK’s got off to a great start but the US has got good legs and the strong showing from the US team at the World Cup is helping,” Moore adds. The numbers were pretty close last year and I think that’s a pretty interesting side bet this year.”

MCV’s full interview with Peter Moore can be found in the features section.