EA: Madden sales up 5% YoY, IP going to Facebook

EA said overnight that it had America's bestselling August game in Madden 11, with year-on-year sales up 5 percent across all formats.

Issuing a deluge of Madden-based win-facts, the publisher added that that digital revenues for the new version of the game are up more than 200 percent compared to last year, "on the strength of the Madden NFL Ultimate Team game mode."

Madden 11 gamers have averaged more than 2 million online connected game sessions each day since the title launched last month.

Nearly 20 percent of all online play has been logged with Online Team Play, the IP's new, bite-sized mode that allows 3-on-3 play, and such.

It sounds as though EA's strategy of making the game more accessible has paid off. The GameFlow calling system in has been used by 85 percent of players; Gameflo essentially shortens play time.

EA also confirmed that it's to launch Madden as a free game on Facebook today, in the form of Playfish-developed Madden NFL Superstars.