Last month, UBS analyst Ben Schachter noted that day one sales for EA's Madden NFL 09 were essentially flat. Some believed that sales might be down after low pre-order numbers were revealed, but now it's been announced that Madden sales for August were actually up six percent year-over-year on a dollar basis, resulting in revenues of about $133.5 million for the month.

EA was quick to point out in a press release that Madden's sales were better than the top blockbuster movies for the month of August in the U.S., such as Tropic Thunder ($83.9 million), Mamma Mia! ($56.4 million), and Pineapple Express ($79.9 million). "Expectations were very high, and Madden NFL 09 is the most innovative game in the 20 year history of the franchise," said Peter Moore, President of EA Sports. "We're seeing strong consumer momentum both at retail and online, where fans are connecting in record numbers to play Madden NFL 09. We expect more than 100 million games of Madden NFL 09 will be played online in the next year."

"We believe EA elected to disclose Madden sales [prior to NPD] as there was some lingering concern among investors over lower preorder volumes," commented Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian. "However, it is important to note that street-dated titles with mass-market appeal are less likely to receive pre-orders than core gamer titles (e.g., Halo and GTA). We also note that Madden sales grew this year despite a significant decline in prior-generation PS2 software, which is historically a very strong platform for EA Sports titles."

According to Sebastian, another one of EA's big titles, Spore is also doing well despite consumers' frustration with the game's DRM technology. "While it is still too early to make a conclusive call, our initial checks indicate Spore has sold reasonably well out of the gate," Sebastian said. "The title is also listed as the #2 selling game on GameStop.com, behind preorders of EA's upcoming release Warhammer Online, and is the #1 game on Amazon.com, despite some early user concerns over online access and DRM."