Madden NFL 12 Goes on, Even Without an NFL Season

Madden NFL is the most widely played football videogame. Owned by EA (Electronic Arts), Madden NFL has gone through 22 versions, and Madden NFL 12, set to be released August 2011, will be the 23rd.

Currently the NFL Player's Association and the NFL are in a dispute, and if the two sides do not come to an agreement within the next few months, the 2011-2012 season will not be played.

EA says they plan on releasing Madden NFL 12, as usual in August, even if the 2011-2012 season is not played.

CNET got an interview with Rob Semsey, EA Sports' director of public relations. "Fans of Madden NFL will not have their seasons interrupted, regardless of when the labor issues are resolved. We plan to release Madden NFL 12 in August as usual." said Rob.

Two problems may come with releasing Madden NFL 12 without a real NFL season to back it up. One of the issues with this is that some players have left their teams at the end of last season, but have not been signed with another team yet. EA would probably replace the players with generic ones, or maybe keep the same rosters as last year.

Another possible problem is EA's bottom line. Although EA has not said how their bottom line would be affected if there was no season this year, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter told The Hollywood Reporter last week that Madden sales heavily depend on the NFL season. Pachter said that if there is no season this year, it could "cost Madden around 50% of sales."

Source: CNET