NFL fan? Hope you enjoy Madden. (1 Viewer)

[Chris Bardon]

They actually gave a great reason for it, and that's that they aren't as big a license, so by selling to more developers they can make more money. Basically, it's a case that EA didn't offer them enough to make it worth their while.

I wonder if they've approached the NHL for exclusivity yet?

 

[Charlie Campisi]

Who? :frowning:

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Electronic Arts.

 

[BrianB]

Jay, I think the "Who?" was a remark about the state of the NHL rather than a serious question... Why pay for exclusive ice hockey rights when there's currently no league to simulate.

 

[James St]

EA exclusive "NHL Lockout 2005?"

 

[Jeff_Standley]

LOL!

I hope they dont go after the NHL rights. EA sports lost the edge on making the NHL games a few years ago and ESPN has dominated and improved the NHL series every year since they started. I used to love EA sports NHL series and would buy the second it was released, but several years ago they just stopped caring about it it seemed and it got weak.

I dont think though that we have much to worry about with the NHL rights being bought out because the NHL isnt as big of a markey as the NFL is.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

That's huge comedy! Didn't catch that.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Why not? You could have simulated salary negotiations, analysis of revenue and contracts, and trying to keep merchandising and brand awareness up during a lockout!

 

[James St]

While they're at it they can add in some mini games too. See how many times you can wrap a players Ferrari around a telephone pole. Maybe they can add in a GTA like level where you have the option to carry out a hit on a sports agent. If its in the game, its in the game.

 

[Ken Chui]

Looks like both SEGA and Microsoft may discontinue further development of in-house sports titles. According to a Take-Two Interactive (publisher of the GTA series) financial statement, they can exercise their option to purchase all Visual Concepts' capital stock (open until March 31, 2006); they have also secured Indie Built (developer of "Amped" and "Top Spin") from Microsoft, along with other assets, for $18.5 million.

Interesting rumour on Gamespot: according to some EA sources, the company is considering severing its licensing deal with John Madden for a number of reasons, the most notable being a) no more royalty fees, b) improving the in-game commentary, cited by many critics as the franchise's weak spot, and c) improving their profit margin (hey, exclusivity arrangements aren't cheap )

 

[Marc Bax]

EA purchased the ESPN name for 15 years it was announced today. This will probably be the final blow for Sega sports. Read about it here.

P.S. Last month EA also announced they'd secured the rights to the Arena Football League for 4 years. Just keeps getting better :frowning: .

 

[David Galindo]

I read that too. While the NFL pressured video game companies to sign an exclusive deal, this ESPN deal was EA and EA alone. Makes me want to hurl.

 

[Sean Moon]

Someone on a gaming forum made a good point. Almost every monday lately EA has made an announcement of some new acquisition. So what is coming next week?

 

[David Galindo]

Its interesting...if this was Microsoft or Nintendo aquiring all these rights, we'd be pretty happy depending on which side of the court we're on. But I have yet to see ANYONE be excited about EA.

That said, I will likely buy more content from them in the future (like Burnout 4) even though I know its wrong. Sigh...

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

That hurts.

 

[Ken Chui]

I can empathize with your plight. Although I can live without the NFL on my consoles, it would be extremely difficult foregoing their other franchises (Battlefield and Medal Of Honor on the PC, Burnout and Need For Speed on the consoles).

 

[Ken Chui]

Another interesting development that just emerged: the Take Two/Visual Concepts team is in negotiations to buy third party exclusivity for the MLB license, i.e. first party developers (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) can still produce and publish MLB games, but companies such as EA and Midway will be shut out.

There are rumours of the NBA granting exclusivity to specific genres, i.e. one for simulations, one for street-style gameplay and one for portables.

If this madness continues, I'm foregoing purchases of all major sports titles in N. America from here on out.

 

[DaveGTP]

This is a pretty lame turn of events. I'm not a big sports guy so I don't buy sports titles, but I don't like seeing the trend. There is a reason for anti-monopoly laws - because competition creates innovation and lower prices for consumers.

This may not be a monopoly in the real sense of the word, but the effects are the same - a stifling of innovation to be sure, and definitely not lower prices for consumers.

 

[Paul Simmons]

EA's new logo!

 

[Daniel Kikin]

I don't like the whole exclusive deal thing, it's always good to have choices, but I was always wondering what it would be like to combine the depth of Madden NFL with the presentation and style of ESPN NFL Football, I guess we'll find out pretty soon. I also liked being able to buy a high-quality sports games for $20, which probably won't happen again thanks to this deal.