EA now has the monopoly on football games

[yoMAMA]

:mad: :frown:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/14/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/

i know this is old news...but this still blows.

EA=the microsoft of the gaming industry.

[SunWuKong]

i heard about this. EA has come a long way since releasing Populous years ago. that was a fun game. they used to do simulation and strategy games. now they're all about sports games.

[sOKaLiBoY]

Monday, January 17, 2005
Deal allows EA access to ESPN personalities

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By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com

Faced with tough competition from the ESPN-branded NFL 2K5, Electronic Arts secured exclusive video game rights for its Madden franchise last month that prevented other gaming companies from using NFL marks and players' names for the next five years.

On Monday, ESPN and EA announced a 15-year integrated marketing agreement that will allow for all of EA's sports franchises to have access to the network's programming and personalities.

The deal will help alleviate the slight awkwardness in the relationship between ESPN/ABC and EA. Despite the fact that ESPN had its own branded football game, John Madden and Al Michaels, who are under contract to broadcast ABC's Monday Night Football, are the voices of EA's Madden game.

"Our mission is to be in a place that is central to our fans, wherever they are watching, reading or logging on," said John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president of advertising sales, new media and consumer products. "Video games has become the new medium and we felt that it was crucial for us to be there in the biggest way possible."

The alliance pairs one of the most powerful names in sports with the leading sports video game maker.

"There is no better innovative partner than ESPN," said Frank Gibeau, EA's senior vice president of marketing. "We want to grow the sports category aggressively and nobody matches the capability, brand power and creative thinking in the news information and entertainment world."

The deal will commence in 2006, as ESPN still has one year left in its partnership with Sega.

Many in the video game industry have speculated that EA's buying out of the NFL rights could lead to ridding the sports video game landscape of any meaningful competition. NFL-branded games are typically the money generators in the sports video game business. More games with the NFL license are sold than NBA and Major League Baseball games combined, according to the NPD Group, a market tracking firm.

Midway has announced plans to make a non-licensed NFL game called "Playmakers," loosely based on the ESPN drama. But other players -- including Sony's 989 Sports and Microsoft, which sat out last year -- have not talked of entering the football gaming business without the license.

Sega formally took on ESPN names in the fall of 2003 and the loss of the network's branding could take a toll on its other licensed products, which include NBA, Major League Baseball and men's college basketball games. Skipper said that the immediate plans call for the unveiling of a branded baseball game with Sega in March. Calls placed to Visual Concepts, Sega's sports studio, were not returned.

Take-Two Interactive markets and distributes the Sega games.

"The ESPN license was principally a branding tool and as such does not have a meaningful impact on game play," said Take-Two spokesman Ed Nebb. "The key to the video game business, especially sports, is to develop the best game possible and the games produced by Visual Concepts are among the highest-rated and best-reviewed sports games available."

Before this year, EA's Madden franchise, which debuted in 1989, dominated the football game marketplace. But the Madden 2005 game was seriously challenged by ESPN's NFL 2K5, thanks to good reviews and a pricing war. NFL 2K5 was available in stores in July for $19.95. The Madden game was priced at $49.95 for three months until the company finally relented and lowered it by $20.

Sports video games accounted for more than 20 percent ($1.2 billion) of the $5.8 billion video game market last year, according to the NPD Group. Gibeau said that the alliance could help EA compete against other non-sports titles like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise and Microsoft's Halo.

Since the deal with the NFL, EA's stock price (NASDAQ: ERTS) has risen 10.4 percent to $59.84 a share, just $3.87 off its 52-week high.

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1969067

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EA Nabs ESPN as 15-Year Exclusive
First the NFL, now the most recognized brand in sports media.

January 17, 2005 - With thundering force, Electronic Arts may have just swung the final punch to sports rival SEGA: the gaming giant just announced it has entered a 15-year exclusive licensing deal with ESPN.


Under the agreement, EA has exclusive video game rights to ESPN-branded print, telecast, and online content -- in addition to other ESPN media properties. The agreement covers all gaming platforms -- consoles, PC, handhelds, and wireless, and will begin in 2006, upon completion of ESPN's current licensing commitments.

The agreement most clearly affects Take Two and SEGA, which jointly publish a series of ESPN-licensed sports titles. The companies are still reeling from EA's announcement last month that it had acquired exclusive video game rights to NFL properties -- a direct challenge to SEGA's ESPN NFL franchise.

Obviously, the challenge is now doubled.

Electronic Arts explains the ESPN agreement as helping gamers: "This relationship was created to benefit consumers who are passionate about sports games," said EA CEO Larry Probst. "EA SPORTS recreates the real life experience fans enjoy while watching or playing their favorite sport; while ESPN programming captures the look, sound and excitement of the sports they follow. Together, we believe we can significantly grow the interactive sports category."

Until recently, EA's sports titles, such as the Madden NFL series, have faced vigorous competition from SEGA's ESPN Videogames brand, which saw success last year with a strong critical reception and prices cut in half.

We'll be back with more on the situation as soon as new details emerge.
-- David Adams

http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580401p1.html

[SunWuKong]

threads have been merged.

[yoMAMA]

FUCK YOU, EA.

:mad:

[VV o n g B a]

so both espn and nfl have sold exclusive licenses. is ncaa football next? if sega wants to have any football game at all next year, they've got to make sure that ea doesn't do it to college football too.

if they do, then say goodbye to any competition whatsover in football games for the foreseable future cuz in 5 years, no company is gonna have the knowledge and experience to put together a worthy challenger. but u gotta give it to ea for making a good business move. they are the game company equivalent of microsoft now.

[SunWuKong]

if they do, then say goodbye to any competition whatsover in football games for the foreseable future cuz in 5 years, no company is gonna have the knowledge and experience to put together a worthy challenger. but u gotta give it to ea for making a good business move. they are the game company equivalent of microsoft now.

that's not true. it may take a bit of capital to develop the software itself after 5 years, but other companies can easily lure away EA developers with more money and positions with more decision-making responsibilities. and at any rate, i personally think that the software for sports games is not so different from many first-person shoot-them-up games.

[sOKaLiBoY]

so both espn and nfl have sold exclusive licenses. is ncaa football next? if sega wants to have any football game at all next year, they've got to make sure that ea doesn't do it to college football too.

if they do, then say goodbye to any competition whatsover in football games for the foreseable future cuz in 5 years, no company is gonna have the knowledge and experience to put together a worthy challenger. but u gotta give it to ea for making a good business move. they are the game company equivalent of microsoft now.

Sega and ESPN have one year left on the contract. After that, expect EA to have probably the only real option for major sports games

this sucks ass. at first i thought it might be ok with only losing ESPN NFL. Now with the new contract, we loose ESPN NHL, NBA, College Hoops and Baseball. Now for the 1 cent question....will EA merge the ESPN license with their games or make 2 games? Like will it be Madden with ESPN or Madden and a ESPN NFL game.

[Bhodi_Li]

This is just plain sick, sick I tell you!

[sOKaLiBoY]

update...

Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood
Take Two to get MLB exclusive? NBA to sell genre exclusive licenses?




January 18, 2005 - I can't ever remember a more tumultuous time in the history of sports video games. And just when you think you know it all, another bomb is dropped on your lap.


EA buys the NFL exclusive. EA buys the ESPN exclusive.

But now, here comes the counterpunch.

Rumors are circulating that the Take Two/Visual Concepts team is in negotiations to buy the exclusive MLB license, and negotiations are almost final. Visual Concepts is the company I had mentioned in a previous column as the ones who went out and locked up a long term deal with Major League Baseball after the NFL exclusive was announced, and now it looks like they were not only granted a long term deal, but are about to make it an exclusive. Word is, it could be an exclusive third party contract, meaning first-party publishers like Sony (989), Microsoft, and Nintendo will still be able to publish games using the real players and teams, but surprisingly, it's mega power EA who will be cut out of the loop.

On the NBA front, rumors are spreading throughout the industry that the league is now looking to sell genre-specific exclusives once current deals expire, meaning they want one company to publish sims (NBA Live, NBA 2K5), one to publish street-style games (NBA Street V3, NBA Ballers), and one to publish portables. Sources tell IGN Sports that there is already some major money on the table for each deal, and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. The NBA has rejected initial bids for the all-encompassing exclusive, taking the competition from the courts to the negotiating table.

http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580468p1.html