Has Tiger damaged EA's golf series?

The scandal surrounding golfer Tiger Woods' personal life might have hurt sales of his golf game, an analyst has said.

According to sales data, first month sales of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 plummeted 68 per cent compared to the launch of last year's game. The Wii version saw an 86 per cent decline.

Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz told Gamasutra that sales of the Wii version were "particularly catastrophic."

"Although this is probably due in part to the fact that last year's version shipped bundled with Nintendo's new Motion Plus controller, we are concerned that Woods' scandal woes may have permanently damaged the sales potential of what we believe to be EA's third most important sports franchise, behind Madden and FIFA," Creutz said.

In January, EA Sports president Peter Moore backed Woods.

"Our relationship with Tiger has always been rooted in golf," he wrote on his blog.

"We didn't form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm's length endorser. Far from it. We chose to partner with Tiger in 1997 because we saw him as the world's best, most talented and exciting golfer. We struck that partnership with the assumption that he would remain near or at the top of his sport for years to come."

And later that month, Moore told CNBC that despite the scandal, "we've seen no negative impact on sales".

Perhaps EA's sales woes aren't entirely Woods' fault. Creutz said both Skate 2 and Green Day: Rock Band also under performed. Skate 3 is down 40 per cent from the two month total for the original, and Green Day sold only 82,000 units across three platforms. Ouch.