It appears that EA Sports didn't need to do all that much with its long-running Tiger Woods PGA Tour series in order to raise its flagging sales numbers. Oh, y'know, nothing aside from the biggest possible "get" for the franchise: bringing The Masters, one of the most storied tournaments in all of sports, to digital life. EA announced today that it sold approximately 225,000 copies of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters during the game's first week of availability (March 29 - April 5). That amounts to a 17% improvement over the series' previous best launch-week performer, 2007's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. (For reference, the hot-selling Wii version of PGA Tour 10 moved 272,400 units alone... in its first month.)
But that's just a portion of the good news for the franchise. EA is cleaning up on the digital side, too: the publisher estimates a 200% jump year-over-year in first-week DLC revenue. (Check out all the add-ons on offer here.) In addition, the iPhone/iPad version of PGA Tour 12 -- which doesn't even include Augusta National or The Masters -- debuted at #1 on the iTunes sports-game charts, and stayed there for the entire launch week.
It's good to see EA's golf series bounce back after a disappointing 2010, which saw a precipitous 68% year-over-year drop in first-month sales of PGA Tour. I guess the analysts who saw those numbers and wondered if Woods' infidelity had caused a "permanent" decline in sales have a lot of humble pie to eat.
On a related note, Destructoid's review of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters is on its way. (I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath.) Sorry -- I was watching the actual Masters this weekend, which ended up having one hell of a final round!
Samit Sarkar is a founding Destructoid editor and go-to Sports guy. Samit was the son of the Duke of Knees, rescued from a burning village in the afghan desert by a golden condor. He is an ace Backgammon player and lost both legs in a whaling tour. He lives for free in a nursery in Scotland where he teaches monks how to capture butterflies without hurting them.
Likes
Confuse Ray,
Feel My Blade
A Mabari War Hound,
Snot,
Spiral Arrow,
Argo,
Dan Smith's critical hit bark,
Rolling things up into my life
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
11 comments | showing # 1 to 11
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
11:30 PM on 04.12.2011 | 
I got the Wii version. I was thinking about the PSMove, but I read that the motion controls were a bit off. I like it a lot so far. It feels like more of an upgrade than the last few versions. The graphics and interface are improved and the motion controls are solid with the motion plus.
Also fuck Rory McIlroy. CAN WE HAVE ONE BRITISH SPORTSMAN NOT FALL TO PIECES WHEN IT MATTERS?
...expect you to buy the same courses multiple times.
It's disheartening to know that this strategy not only didn't turn off consumers, but actually paid off in the end. Guess there's no incentive for EA to avoid repeating this stunt in the future.