West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: Black_Smoke on December 14, 2004, 12:33:14 AM
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Only gonna b one football game each year for the next 5 years
Big Deal: EA and NFL ink exclusive licensing agreement
Five-year contract gives EA sole rights to the NFL, including teams, players, and stadiums. Take-Two reacts, calling it a "tremendous disservice to the consumers."
Electronic Arts has signed the biggest sports free-agent on the market. In a devastating blow to competitors--and in a deal sure to reshape sports gaming--the software giant signed an exclusive agreement with the National Football League and the NFL Players Inc., a subsidiary of the NFL Players Association.
The deal, one EA admits to having lobbied for over the past few years, is an exclusive five-year licensing deal granting EA the sole rights to the NFL's teams, stadiums, and players.
The arrangement encompasses action simulation, arcade style, and manager games made for PCs, consoles, and handhelds (both the DS and PSP, included), giving EA a firm hold on the football gaming market. The deal does not include titles for mobile phones or internet-based games, but does include online features of consoles. With next-generation consoles scheduled for release next holiday season, EA looks to handily dominate the professional football market for the duration of the license.
EA's current roster of NFL games includes the top-selling Madden franchise and the extreme football NFL Street franchise. Given that EA currently has no "manager games" per se, there is clear writing on the wall that the publisher will announce a new sports management lineup of products, though it refused to comment on when.
A source close to the negotiations said it was at a spring, 2004, off-site meeting attended by top NFL officials that the league determined it would take the league license exclusive. GameSpot was told the league put the license up for bid and that EA was among as many as five software publishers competing for it. An EA spokesperson said today, "Obviously, exclusives are more expensive. We are most certainly paying a premium."
In a statement, Larry Probst, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Arts said, "We are excited about the opportunity to further enhance our relationship with the NFL and PLAYERS INC. The five-year agreements will usher NFL fans through the console technology transition with new ideas and innovative game play experiences."
The deal is obviously bad news for EA's competitors, particularly ESPN Videogames, Sega, and Take-Two who stole a respectable chunk of EA's Madden football market with their NFL 2K series and it's budget price tag this year of $19.99.
Arguably, the deal will impact consumers negatively as well. With less choice, theories of competition no longer apply. Some industry insiders speculate the exclusive deal was embraced by the NFL after it saw Take-Two lower the price of its 2K5 product earlier this year. No licensor likes to see a price war being fought with its brand value at stake. At the same time, exclusive licenses in the sports world are more the norm than non-exclusive licenses. The NFL's apparel license is a Reebok exclusive, as is its beverage license with Gatorade.
This afternoon, Take-Two issued the following statement: “While sports games in general are an important part of Take-Two's product diversification strategy, the licensed NFL game we distributed on behalf of Sega this year was not a material contributor to our profitability to date, nor was it expected to be a meaningful contributor in the upcoming year. We remain committed to continued diversification of our product portfolio, including sports.
"We believe that the decisions of the National Football League and PLAYERS INC to grant an exclusive license for videogames do a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices.”
"I really respect them, but the consumer really loses," one analyst told GameSpot. "EA is both evil and really smart."
As for such a deal affecting quality of future football products, EA's vice president of corporate communications Jeff Brown told GameSpot, "The onus is on EA to keep making a better game each year…that's the hurdle you have to clear every year."
Even before the news was released, trading of EA stock had its value spiking north. On trading nearly three times its usual amount, EA stock was up more than $3 today. The stock closed at $57.57, up $3.38, or 6.24 percent, with 16,574,606 shares trading hands on the NASDAQ. In after hours trading, the stock at press time had jumped another $2.88 to trade at $60.45.
By Tim Surette, Curt Feldman -- GameSpot
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Extremely huge business move, they'll make a fucking fortune. The one guy said this hinders creativity, I don't agree. Every disaster is an opportunity in disguise... if the competing companies are TRULY creative, and TRULY produce a superior game, which is of course possible, if they're good enough, it'll sell even better than the NFL licensed one, without the NFL teams and players. It's possible, and if they're good enough, they can do it.
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..... if they're good enough, it'll sell even better than the NFL licensed one, without the NFL teams and players. It's possible, and if they're good enough, they can do it.
Highly doubt it. But you never know. I really think this sucks, I really liked ESPN's NFL 2K5.
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oh this fuckin sucks...in my opinion ESPN NFL 2k5 > Madden :-\
damn...its gonna be a collectors item
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wait..might be good...ESPN CFL 2K5 :o..or Arena Football...fuck the Madden, i'll still watch the NFL..jsut not play their gay ass game >:(
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yes now we can get an ESPN XFL 2005!!!!!!!
call up Vinny McMahon
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Damn, what a great move. LMAO at ESPN lowering their shit to 20 bucks to reach out to more of an audience and now not being able to release another NFL game.
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I bought neither, though I am going to buy Madden since it's now $29.99 at Best Buy to compete. Personally, it's a sad day for the video game market, but only Sega is left competing with EA for sports game. In some games, like basketball, Sega has way better games, and in some areas EA had the advantage like football. I was hoping that Sega would force EA's hand in football, but EA just took over the game. Oh well, I'm still buying Madden next year, so I can't really talk much shit. I just hope that it eventually comes down in price so a broke ese like me can affort it.
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honestly, i hope now sega will come with one of those fantasy mutant league type football games...those end up being more creative and fun anyways
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honestly, i hope now sega will come with one of those fantasy mutant league type football games...those end up being more creative and fun anyways
lol..that'd be sweet
or a Superhero type of football game..lol Superman as QB :o
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honestly, i hope now sega will come with one of those fantasy mutant league type football games...those end up being more creative and fun anyways
Like they did back in the day huh? Mutant league football and hockey...Those were the days... I remember me and my brother were the first kids in the neighborhood to get a 16-bit console when we got the Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis as it was called in the U.S.).
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I only play Madden anyway so I could care less. Madden is the shit
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Extremely huge business move, they'll make a fucking fortune. The one guy said this hinders creativity, I don't agree. Every disaster is an opportunity in disguise... if the competing companies are TRULY creative, and TRULY produce a superior game, which is of course possible, if they're good enough, it'll sell even better than the NFL licensed one, without the NFL teams and players. It's possible, and if they're good enough, they can do it.
Yeah right... no one is gonna buy some shit that doesnt have the NFL teams or players.
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wait..might be good...ESPN CFL 2K5 :o..or Arena Football...fuck the Madden, i'll still watch the NFL..jsut not play their gay ass game >:(
CFL??? Arena football?????? Dude, cmon
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the ONLY two ways out of this is if:
Sega concentrates on the NHL and NBA games
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makes a futuristic/fantasy football game with a gripping story, better characters and creative gameplay...hell even make is a mature or teen game...have drugs, betting, and other illegal shit involved in season play. i can see this selling a fortune
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did anyone ever make an xfl game
arena football would be a good idea
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did anyone ever make an xfl game
arena football would be a good idea
XFL wasn't even around long enough to have commercials
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wait..might be good...ESPN CFL 2K5 :o..or Arena Football...fuck the Madden, i'll still watch the NFL..jsut not play their gay ass game >:(
CFL??? Arena football?????? Dude, cmon
people would buy it
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Looks like Sega's football department will now have to focus on NCAA. There is a huge market out there for NCAA Football fans, and I wonder if you can do a history type thing where you can use ex College players, thus NFL players? That may not be possible with the agreement EA has with the NFL, but who knows?
I don't think it's a good move by EA. I mean they get the majority sales anyway, and now with out competition, they may go soft. No competition is never god for business. Look at McMahon and the WWE. The second they bought WCW, business started dropping and creativity went to shit. If EA makes second rate games two years from now and keeps it up until the end of the agreement, then the first NFL game by another company is going to be ready and will emerge victorious. I mean the other companies are going to have 5 years to perfect a football game.
If the others do focus on NCAA or god forbid high school, then I'll buy one out of spite. I don't even own any new systems, but I will support the cause of striking against the evil monopolizers. I still have a Apple Macintosh I don't use. Take that Bill Gates!
Something tells me that Mario Football is on the way.
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yea they can still make a NCAA football game n i think it will sell good if it has good gameplay n shit
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yea they can still make a NCAA football game n i think it will sell good if it has good gameplay n shit
The big problem with past NCAA Football games was tat you could tell it was the developers B Team working on the game. NCAA football probabl;y makes more money than all the other leagues in the World outside of the NFL and European Soccer. It's a huge industry with a huge fan base.
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Extremely huge business move, they'll make a fucking fortune. The one guy said this hinders creativity, I don't agree. Every disaster is an opportunity in disguise... if the competing companies are TRULY creative, and TRULY produce a superior game, which is of course possible, if they're good enough, it'll sell even better than the NFL licensed one, without the NFL teams and players. It's possible, and if they're good enough, they can do it.
Yeah right... no one is gonna buy some shit that doesnt have the NFL teams or players.
If they don't rise above this, it's just because of a lack of creativity.
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this blows so fucking bad. EA blows. Madden ain't gonna be changing much for 5 years. Segas is so much better anyway.
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Extremely huge business move, they'll make a fucking fortune. The one guy said this hinders creativity, I don't agree. Every disaster is an opportunity in disguise... if the competing companies are TRULY creative, and TRULY produce a superior game, which is of course possible, if they're good enough, it'll sell even better than the NFL licensed one, without the NFL teams and players. It's possible, and if they're good enough, they can do it.
Yeah right... no one is gonna buy some shit that doesnt have the NFL teams or players.
If they don't rise above this, it's just because of a lack of creativity.
However, there have been some extraordinary games over the years that simply don't sell. It may be due to lack of marketing or just lack of interest in the unknown. I'm sure there will be some amazing generic football games coming out, but that doesn't mean they will sell well. People in general stick to whats working for them. Game Cube had some very intriguing games made for it with a real twist on gaming, but it's still dead last in the race and was never given a chance by the general gamer. Sega's Shenmue was absolutely stunning and revolutionary in some aspects, but sales would make you think it was a dud. For a company to compete with Madden without the NFL licensethey'd have to make a game 3 times better, and to beat Madden it would have to be 10 times better, and although I never thought Madden was the best football game it was never 10 times worse than the others, except for Madden '94 when compared to Montana '94. Montana '94 was incredible.
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I hope Sega/Visual Concepts just brings out a totally unlicensed version of their game next year, just changing the player names so that they are spelt wrong, and obviously having to just call the teams by their region rather than their franchise name, change the badges and whatnot. Just focus 100% on the gameplay and try and make a far superior game to the Madden game that comes out. Althought they obviously won't sell as much due to them lacking the official license, at least it will give some choice to the consumer, and at least make EA consider that they still have some form of competition.