Madden NFL Superstars brings football franchise to Facebook. Available now

Madden NFL Superstars Facebook screenshot
Madden NFL Superstars has hit Facebook, the world’s most popular social network website, announced Electronic Arts.

Madden NFL Superstars, is a free game (Or “App”) developed by Playfish, a social network games veteran that EA purchased last year for $275 million dollars. Which instantly made them the second-largest developer of social network titles following Farmville developer Zynga.

And now they’ve proven their worth by bringing the extremely popular Madden NFL Football series to Facebook. Where EA is hoping that the Madden name will allow them to tap into millions of Facebook users who may not try other Apps but be drawn by their enthusiasm for football.

The game won’t exactly resemble the Madden you know and love however. The goal of “Madden NFL Superstars” is to collect players from a roster of over 1,500 current NFL athletes. You will then build a team and compete them against teams created by your Facebook friends. Tapping into the same kind of addictive nature as games like Mafia Wars. The more time you spend playing (Or “practicing”) in Madden NFL Superstars, the more experience your team will gain. You can also spend real-world money to quickly level up your players, with pricing set between $1.20 and $12.

“The first phase of social games was about exponential growth,” said Sebastien de Halleux, a Playfish co-founder and now vice president at EA Interactive. “Consumers love novelty, but the novelty wears off. Now we’re in the second phase, the growing up phase. It signals that social games is not only about farming, but about connecting real-life passions like football with an online interaction.”

Electronic Arts also revealed that Madden digital revenues are up over 200% compared to last year, sighting the “strength of the Madden NFL Ultimate Team game mode.” And that year-on-year sales of Madden NFL 11 are up 5% across all platforms compared to Madden NFL 10. Other strong stats include an average of over 2 million online connected game sessions everyday since Madden NFL 11’s launch, nearly 20% of all online play being with Online Team Play, the GameFlow calling system being used by 85% of players, and that Madden NFL 11 was America’s best-selling title for the month of August 2010.

This video gives you an in-depth look at the game.

Via LA Times