Several weeks ago, we announced that we would not be shipping Madden on the PC this year.  As I mentioned then, and I will re-iterate today, the PC platform presents serious business challenges to us in the sports category.  Love it or hate it, that’s the reality.  I can’t make you like the decision, but nevertheless it’s a hard decision we had to make.

While I have no announcements for today, we are listening to the concerns of the fans and hope to have an announcement soon about some steps we’re taking on Madden in particular that we hope will appeal to some of the fans this fall.

In the last week or so, many of you have asked for clarification as to what our intentions are this year for the PC platform specifically.

Let me clearly state our plans: This year, we plan to ship FIFA and NHL on the PC.  FIFA Manager will also be available in some territories.

This year, we don’t plan to ship Madden, NCAA Football, NASCAR, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR, or NBA LIVE for the PC platform.

We continue to explore new ideas for reinvigorating the PC platform for sports.  We have exciting projects taking place right now in Asia with NBA STREET and FIFA on the PC, with a strong focus on the on-line experience.  We’re learning from this and will keep you posted on new developments and how we think we can bring sports to the PC in a way that creates exciting game experiences and will be sound business decisions.

Contrary to some of the passionate posts on this blog, we have no intention to abandon the PC as a sports gaming platform. Rather, we are taking this time to re-define the way we bring you compelling experiences while at the same time making sure we make the appropriate and necessary investments for the future. I ask for your patience, understanding, and openness to new and unique ideas…

Peter