EA reduced Madden NFL 2005 's price to $29.95. This greatly reduced Madden sales that year one EA Sports developer recalled that 't scared the hell out of us'. ĮSPN NFL 2K5 was the first in the 2K series priced at $19.99 the day it shipped, much lower than market leader Madden NFL at $49.99. The staff also claimed that it beat out ESPN NFL 2K5 due to EA's video game exclusivity deal with the NFL. IGN called the PS2 version the 98th best PlayStation 2 game due to its AI quality and graphics. GameSpot named it the best Xbox and PlayStation 2 game of August 2004. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 90.33% and 91 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version 90% and 90 out of 100 for the GameCube version 89.50% and 91 out of 100 for the Xbox version 83.73% and 85 out of 100 for the PC version 80% and 79 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version and 69.07% and 68 out of 100 for the DS version. The game has also been heavily criticized for its questionable soundtrack, which was a common recurrence throughout the series. The game was met with universal acclaim to average reception, with the game frequently being compared to its competitor ESPN NFL 2K5.

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