According to a recent report from FOX Sports, sales of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 are down 68 percent from last year. Not surprised? That’s actually a more interesting statement than you may think. It’s no secret that Tiger has experienced his share of woes off the course—a tale of scandal that may continue to unravel in the coming months—but is that a complete explanation for the poor video game sales? I know that Tiger is not the picture of greatness we once thought him to be, but that doesn’t mean parents just throw in the towel and buy their kid Grand Theft Auto instead of a golf video game. Katherine Coulhart, an EA Sports publicist directly responsible for the Tiger Woods PGA game, had this explanation:
There are a number of factors that have contributed (to the decline in sales), but we believe the largest contributors are the slowing of the overall Wii software market and Tiger’s performance on the course.”
Tiger’s performance on the course is the reason people overwhelming have ignored the game. This is true. Now, as a publicist, Katherine does get paid to direct our attention away from Tiger’s real life problems and into video game land, but she does have a valid point. If Tiger were winning, I might think he had his life back in order, and then I would never think twice about buying his video game. More than anything, the video game is an interesting case study in the post-scandal Tiger brand and shows, at least in the short term, where EA Sports finds itself after sticking with Tiger. If and when Tiger starts winning again — and everyone expects him to start winning again — EA sports may look smarter than Gatorade and Accenture who dumped him as a spokesperson.
Sources
Sales of Woods video game take a hit [FOXSports]
