Leading publisher Electronic Arts has announced the signing of an exclusive five-year deal with the NFL and its players association, effectively eliminating any competition to the firm's NFL sports titles from rival publishers.
The deal signs the National Football League and the NFL Players Inc licensing division into five years of exclusivity with EA, preventing any other company from using the NFL brands, stadiums, player names and player likenesses in their games.
The deal will come as a devastating blow to SEGA and Take Two, whose ESPN sports range made up significant ground on the EA Sports titles this year thanks to an aggressive $19.99 price point.
Without the ability to use NFL players and brands in next year's game, however, the ESPN NFL titles are likely to sink without trace, as are all other rival titles - leaving EA's Madden NFL and NFL Street titles as the only real contenders in the sector.
EA has been seeking this form of deal from the NFL for several years, but it seems likely that its lobbying became even more intense this year after the pressure from Take Two's pricing forced the firm to drop the prices of several of its own range of sports titles.
The company also admits to paying a premium for the exclusive license, but chairman Larry Probst clearly believes that the price was worth it, enthusing in an official statement that "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."
Take Two, understandably, is somewhat less impressed with the deal. "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," the publisher said in a statement, "by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices."
However, the company claims that the loss of the NFL brand will not affect its bottom line significantly, and moved to reassure **** that the negative impact to the firm will be insubstantial.
"While sports games in general are an important part of Take-Two's product diversification strategy," the firm explained, "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."
The exclusive NFL deal isn't the first exclusive sports licensing deal that Electronic Arts has struck - with one high profile example being the firm's exclusive licensing deal with the English Premier League, which has forced rival titles such as Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series to use fake player names and rename famous clubs, with Liverpool becoming Merseyside Red, for example.
Posted: 21/12/2004 16:35:46
Content used under license from and copyright Eurogamer Network Ltd
From: http://uk.codejunkies.com/news_reviews.asp?c=GB&cr=GBP&cs=%c2%a3&r=1&l=1&p=10&i=8578&s=7Looking for more Creditable sources but I heard like 3-5 people say sumin about this............
But ummmmmmmmmmm yea..........
No Gameday or ESPN Football till 2010 :twisted: :twisted:
basically no more cheap **** games til 2010... sounds good to me... 8)
Now if they were REALLY smart they would do tha same with tha NBA........he he he.........
EA would then become tha ONLY company 2 make NFL & NBA Games......
Oh well No more Blitz :roll:
basically no more cheap **** games til 2010... sounds good to me... 8)
Now if they were REALLY smart they would do tha same with tha NBA........he he he.........
EA would then become tha ONLY company 2 make NFL & NBA Games......
Oh well No more Blitz :roll:
well, there's no real competition... ShootOut? please :roll:
basically no more cheap **** games til 2010... sounds good to me... 8)
Now if they were REALLY smart they would do tha same with tha NBA........he he he.........
EA would then become tha ONLY company 2 make NFL & NBA Games......
Oh well No more Blitz :roll:
well, there's no real competition... ShootOut? please :roll:
Yeah U right.......... however 2k5 is alright and comes in handy @ just $20 when tryin 2 see tha rosters.......
but all those lil Bootleg games would be obselete ya know tha ones that try and compete with Streets......
wait....
so is GAMeday still good?
cause that's all i care about...
madden is gone, blizt is gone...
good....
unrealistic cartoon looking games... 8) :arrow:
wait....
so is GAMeday still good?
cause that's all i care about...
madden is gone, blizt is gone...
good....
unrealistic cartoon looking games... 8) :arrow:
no..... :roll: :roll: :roll:
Gameday-989
Blitz- Midway
Madden- EA Sports....
Madden is staying... and didn't you even read Chris saying thatno more gameday and espn til 2010 :roll:
basically no more cheap **** games til 2010... sounds good to me... 8)
Now if they were REALLY smart they would do tha same with tha NBA........he he he.........
EA would then become tha ONLY company 2 make NFL & NBA Games......
Oh well No more Blitz :roll:
I read somewhere that they've made an offer to the NBA, but the NBA hasn't responded to it.
Also, Midway said they'll be releasing a new Blitz now that the NFL can't say anything to them about the content of the game. Not sure how they think they are going to do it since they aren't official anymore.
wait....
so is GAMeday still good?
cause that's all i care about...
madden is gone, blizt is gone...
good....
unrealistic cartoon looking games... 8) :arrow:
no..... :roll: :roll: :roll:
Gameday-989
Blitz- Midway
Madden- EA Sports....
Madden is staying... and didn't you even read Chris saying thatno more gameday and espn til 2010 :roll:
Bump that...
i'm just gonna have to be stuck in 2005 until then... :arrow:
