The questions are in bold. His answers are not direct quotes, but reconstructions of his main points that I took notes on.

1. The basis of the paper is proving a correlation between the attendance at NFL and NCAA football contests and the sales of Madden and NCAA football video games, because this would imply a correlation between the two. However, through my research I have been unable to come up with solid numbers of units sold over the course of every year. Do you know the unit sales for Madden and NCAA football over the last couple years (hopefully since 1995)?

Madden sold 6.5 million units in 2006 so far. 10% increase on last year.

(He didn?t have the numbers for NCAA)

2. Throughout the history of football there have been so-called power shifts. One such power shift was from the players to the fans. The first example of this was adding numbers to the back of the jersey so the people in the stands could follow along with their programs. A second was the forward pass, whereby the fans could now see the football moving around, when before the game was essentially a glorified scrum. Last names were later added so the use of programs lessened and the focus on the game increased. My paper is about a modern day power shift, that of bringing football to the homes of the fans in the form of video games. Could you briefly comment on how you feel the sales of Madden/NCAA have contributed to the overall power shift from players to fans?

It?s always a better way to go about things actively than passively, and that?s what the cornerstone of video games is. It?s for those who lack the size, the talent, or are too young or old to play the game in real life. So they can go home and play there and live out their dreams. They can control the kickoff, because traditionally the games are played on Sunday, Monday, and for this year, Thursday. But when people who play the game it can be whenever they want. Madden has also built a sense of community with the online gaming, because a son in Seattle can play a dad in Florida and have a conversation while bonding over video games. As the country becomes more separated (in that families spread out), Madden allows people to reconnect.

3. Do you feel the popularity of football video games have had a positive affect on the attitude towards real football? Do you think that these games are having a positive effect on the attendance in real life?

Brand association adds to the value of the NFL. Madden allows an entry point into the brand of the NFL and increases its popularity. The fans can stay connected to football over the course of the off-season and that allows for the popularity of the game (NFL) to stay high as well as the popularity for the game (Madden) to stay high. As far as increasing attendance, there may be an indirect link, whereby players of Madden come to love the NFL, and ultimately the popularity of the NFL will drive its own ticket sales. Madden then becomes an advertisement in 6.5 million homes for the NFL and helps a little.

4. I am also investigating my personal notion of Madden and NCAA video games for use of indoctrinating people unfamiliar with the game of football as a whole. How do you feel the realism in these games is able to aid in the understanding of the rules and mechanics of the game?

Madden is authentic to the NFL, the playbooks, the players, the coaches. For example, (gave an example of a Seattle Seahawks wide receiver). I know because of Madden that I?m going to throw to him on 3rd down because he is a possession wide receiver, but I won?t throw to him on deep routes because (other receivers on the Seahawks) will be better suited for that. Madden as an educational tool is huge, because players can learn about defenses like the cover 2 and the 3-4, they can learn new offensive schemes and learn how a team works, both on and off the field. And finally they can learn about players. This allows you to become more educated about the game of football as a whole and in turn, potentially increase your interest in the game.

5. What are the difficulties you face in marketing when you try to sell (essentially) the same game year after year? There is obviously a big following already, but how do you find new ways to sell an ?old? game to a new audience?

So the first issue with the question is that it?s not really the same game. We spend a lot of time reinventing a lot of what?s there. For example for the 2005 version we spent a lot of time reworking how the defenses control and what you can do for pre-snap reads. For 2006 we added the QB vision cone and the precision passing to improve the overall passing game. In the 2007 game we added the lead blocking for the running game. Also, the product somewhat sells itself, it is a 17 year old franchise that has had a quality product year in and year out. The legacy and the heritage of the brand drives sales as much as the advertisements. Additionally, a lot of people who buy the game get caught up with the cultural phenomenon: some people who may not be gamers, but are huge sports buffs might buy the game because they are interested in the football aspect, whereas someone who is a gamer but not necessarily a sports fan might get caught up in the launch date hype.

6. (general description of WSoft) How do you think that the students in this group could do to get noticed by the industry? How could they market themselves?

My biggest advice would be to pool all your resources and make an absolutely fantastic game and then get it onto something like XBox Live, where the fans generate all the hype about the game and not the people who made it. The main goal to get your name out there is to make small but fun games with small amount costs.

7. Do you believe in the Madden cover curse? Are you finding it increasingly difficult to find athletes who want to be on the cover of the game?

It is not at all difficult to find an athlete for the cover of Madden. It is closely becoming similar to the Wheaties boxes in the past, where only one person can be on the cover of the game. Shaun Alexander [Runningback for the Seattle Seahawks and cover man for Madden 2007] said ?Which would you rather have: to be hurt and not on the cover or to be hurt and be on the cover?? I don?t really think it is a curse, because football is a very rough sport. The people we pick for the cover are stars of the league and are likely to be around the ball al lot. The chance of them getting hurt is a lot more than say a punter or an offensive lineman. If we put one of those players on the cover the ?curse? would be broken.

8. After EA?s big deal with the NFL for exclusive rights to the players and logos, how are you going to ensure that the quality of Madden remains high even though you have no direct competitors?

Before we signed the agreement, Madden had a 90% market share, so the football games were not our biggest concerns. Our main competition is the Grand Theft Autos and the Halos of the video gaming world, because we?re trying to get consumers to spend $60 on our game instead of theirs. We also have competition from the entertainment dollar as a whole?instead of going to the movies with your girlfriend or buying DVDs or a new iPod, we want people to buy Madden. We, the makers of Madden, are the biggest consumers of the game. We play Madden more than anyone else in the country. We have a passion for the game and want it to be the best game that it can be. The deal has been in effect for the last two years and the last two years, I feel we have added the most innovative features to the game: the QB vision cone and the lead blocking control.

Note: views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's and are not necessarily those of Wolverine Soft.