The face of Tiger Woods’ talent and image has been used extensively since 1999 to bring the golf franchise into the family’s living room for people to step into his golf cleats. Some believe that they’ve exhausted his ability to push titles further amid his losing streak and sex scandal. Now it appears that his publishers will be turning towards Sony to help Tiger find his second wind.
EA Sports wasn’t able to celebrate any outstanding sales for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 as they found themselves selling almost 68% short from their last year sales of PGA tour 10. The Wii’s version alone saw an 86% decline from their previous year of sales. Doug Creutz, an investment analyst for Cowan & Company, attributed the success of PGA Tour 10 to the Wii MotionPlus controller.
“Although this is probably due in part to the fact that last year’s version shipped bundled with Nintendo’s new MotionPlus controller, we are concerned that Woods’ scandal woes may have permanently damaged the sales potential…”
After his notorious sex scandal, many of Tiger’s sponsors began to cut ties with the athlete. However, EA Sports made the decision to stick it out with Tiger through the media storm, a gamble they were willing to take.
EA Sports publicist, Katherine Coulthart, who specifically works on the Tiger Woods franchise, wrote to FOXSports.com to explain that they have a new strategy to help bring back the Tiger Woods franchise – a strategy that would require the assistance of the PlayStation Move.
“He has not won a tournament in 2010. However, Tiger is well positioned to take advantage of a longer than normal sales cycle with the Sony Move controller coming out in September as well as the interest in the upcoming Ryder Cup — which is a key feature in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.”
To all you golfers out there – do you believe the PS Move will bring Tiger Woods golf the much needed redemption its been waiting for? Or will Tiger have to swing much farther to get our attention?
