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ONE FOOTBALL FUTURE - BYE-BYE VISUAL CONCEPTS & ESPN FOOTBALL
- Thread starter sonycowboy
- Start date
I've always been a fan of the NFL2k series over Madden, so this really irks me, but more so for the precident it sets than anything. Just think, it could have been Microsoft buying all the rights to this with the Fever franchise. What would people be saying then?
I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see something like this happen.
I have a feeling this won't be the last time we see something like this happen.
Found this on IGN boards. Here is a better link for all parties involved in this whole ordeal. Get to the heart of the issue and talk to the people in that press release:
Electronic Arts
Trudy Muller, 650-628-7323
tmuller@ea.com
NFL
Brian McCarthy, 212-450-2069
McCarthyB@NFL.com
PLAYERS INC
Christy Moran, 202-496-2885
christy.moran@nflplayers.com
The more I contemplate this issue the more it pisses me off.
Electronic Arts
Trudy Muller, 650-628-7323
tmuller@ea.com
NFL
Brian McCarthy, 212-450-2069
McCarthyB@NFL.com
PLAYERS INC
Christy Moran, 202-496-2885
christy.moran@nflplayers.com
The more I contemplate this issue the more it pisses me off.
Mr. Blonde
Member
What a bunch of horse shit. Madden sucks ass and this is total bullshit that there won't be an ESPN NFL football game next year.
http://sports.ign.com/articles/572/572886p1.html
Looks like they are going after NBA and MLB next:
It looks like EA is gonna try to pull this shit IN ALL SPORTS GAMES. How long before NHL is theirs?!
But on the good news, Midway is now free of the NFL shackles and can make Blitz the Blitz of OLD again!
Looks like they are going after NBA and MLB next:
It looks like EA is gonna try to pull this shit IN ALL SPORTS GAMES. How long before NHL is theirs?!
But on the good news, Midway is now free of the NFL shackles and can make Blitz the Blitz of OLD again!
Well I guess EA can be lazy again. Back to $50 price tags, weak online leagues, and perfect defensive AI.
One way VC could get around it on Xbox is to offer Downable content with the correct players for each team. They would be updating ESPN Football 2K5 which was released before EA bought the rights. It will take EA 5 years just to catch up to the visuals of ESPN Football 2K5.
One way VC could get around it on Xbox is to offer Downable content with the correct players for each team. They would be updating ESPN Football 2K5 which was released before EA bought the rights. It will take EA 5 years just to catch up to the visuals of ESPN Football 2K5.
But the question wasn't, "does the NFL brand benefit from this?" the question was doesn't the NFL have the right to choose? You can claim all you like that this won't benefit the NFL or EA in the end, but that's speculative, the same kind of decision the NFL and PA need to make every year, I presume, and this year they just happen to arrive at a different conclusion, based on their own speculation.Lazy8s said:
It's not a market, it's a property and these businesses all negotiate rights to that property, one way or another. The property holder has the rights to revoke that access as and when the lease agreement comes up for renewal. Whatever infrastructure Sega invested, they have to know there's no guarantee that returns on that investment were assured for years to come, because they never owned the property, unless of course the NFL entered into a multi-year binding agreement with them. If that's the case and the NFL broke that agreement, then I'm sure that Sega would promptly sue, which would be their right.
That's the defeatist spirit! The VIDEOGAME market didn't even exist 30 yrs ago and yet you're acting like everyone's course is set in stone. Do you have no faith in the ability of these companies to create opportunities of their own?
Norse
Member
EA to MS "We want mega bucks from you to make madden 2006 for xbox2"
MS to EA "no way, thats extortion!"
Xbox2 launches with no NFL game...and no others are lawfully available.
PS3 launches 6 months later with Madden 2006.
Xbox2 sells 100,000 total units in first 6 months. MS pulls plug on Xbox2
EA now has direct influencee on the success or failure of a new gaming console. Just like it did with the dreamcast!
MS to EA "no way, thats extortion!"
Xbox2 launches with no NFL game...and no others are lawfully available.
PS3 launches 6 months later with Madden 2006.
Xbox2 sells 100,000 total units in first 6 months. MS pulls plug on Xbox2
EA now has direct influencee on the success or failure of a new gaming console. Just like it did with the dreamcast!
There's no chance in hell it would happen, but I would love to see VC take on the CFL and any other sort of niche they could to make an interesting non-NFL licensed product.
Frankly, if it had good CFL action, it would wind up on everyone's Christmas list from me, whether they wanted it or not
EDIT: And god no, please don't take over the other sports licenses... If the NHL gives EA the sole ownership of the NHL license, to me, that will be worse than the lockout (actually I support the lockout, so maybe no big surprise there).
Frankly, if it had good CFL action, it would wind up on everyone's Christmas list from me, whether they wanted it or not
EDIT: And god no, please don't take over the other sports licenses... If the NHL gives EA the sole ownership of the NHL license, to me, that will be worse than the lockout (actually I support the lockout, so maybe no big surprise there).
johnjohnson
Member
Holy crap. EA made a really smart move, but that's not the right direction a sports franchise should go to. But other sport genres show, that one can be successful even without the official licence or names. Look at Colin McRae Rally. Codemasters rally game sells very well even without the official WRC licence hold exclusively by Sony. Or the Pro Evolution Soccer series which is able to compete with EAs FIFA even with player names like "Holland 1", "Holland 2" and so on.
Of course it's even more difficult for VC to compete with EA now. They'll have though times trying to sell their football game, but if they keep the high levels I'm sure there will be a lot of people preferring better gameplay to current roster. And if they put a player/stadium editor in there there's a big chance that the players will do the rest.
Or maybe they should just forget about the whole football crap and do a good soccer simulation.
Of course it's even more difficult for VC to compete with EA now. They'll have though times trying to sell their football game, but if they keep the high levels I'm sure there will be a lot of people preferring better gameplay to current roster. And if they put a player/stadium editor in there there's a big chance that the players will do the rest.
Or maybe they should just forget about the whole football crap and do a good soccer simulation.
D
Deleted member 284
Unconfirmed Member
Nice!! One developer for NFL games! Soon one console to bleed our wallets dry! What a wonderful future. I can't wait!!! </sarcasm>
I'm with johntv on this one. This is going to screw over the whole industry if publishers try to gobble up everything.
I'm with johntv on this one. This is going to screw over the whole industry if publishers try to gobble up everything.
The CFL is way better than the NFL anyways...so yeah VC should go for it.
I mean...ask all the guys here who watch both the CFL and NFL...they'll agree with me!
What worries me is the trend...FIFA, Nascar...now Football.
When EA gets owned...they seem to want to buy out the Franchise.
EA's been getting absolutely schooled year after year...I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with hockey games.
I mean...ask all the guys here who watch both the CFL and NFL...they'll agree with me!
What worries me is the trend...FIFA, Nascar...now Football.
When EA gets owned...they seem to want to buy out the Franchise.
EA's been getting absolutely schooled year after year...I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with hockey games.
Fight for Freeform said:The CFL is way better than the NFL anyways...so yeah VC should go for it.
I mean...ask all the guys here who watch both the CFL and NFL...they'll agree with me!
I don't agree with you
Still, I think there would be a decent level of interest in a CFL game in Canada, actually... I think it would be really neat. But of course, "neat" and "smart business decision" are not the same thing....
TheDrowningMan
Member
At the end of the day this will just mean that American football games get worse. EA have every reason to make no changes but to rosters & intro screens, etc. Indeed, I suspect that they'll strive to make, say, Madden 2006 worse than the '05 edition (people will buy it either way) and then improve it a tiny bit for '07 so that the customers keep coming back with no complaints.
Its sad really. Exclusivity like this does nobody any favours. Look at Sony's F1 games. Since being completely Sony exclusive, they've been pretty lame.
To people making comments like 'VC should just make a kick-ass football game' - its too later. In the olden days it might have worked. Change a couple of letters in the surname, and you're good to go.
But now - and especially with the next-gen - its the whole package. Players will look like the real players, stadiums will look like the real stadiums. So VC will have to make a kick-ass football game where the names are different, the players don't bear any resemblance to the real ones (or get sued), and the stadia are different. I don't see consumers buying that.
Pro Evo was a hard sell, and I honestly don't know if they'd be competing strongly in Europe with FIFA if they hadn't got some licensing deals in place. Reading some of the comments on here shows that real stats matter.
Major sports should be protected. In the UK, Sky pays a shitload of money for Premiership soccer rights. But the government/FA does not allow them exclusive access - there has to be at least highlights available to free-to-view TV. They understand that some people cannot afford pay-TV, and it is important to keep the game viewable to all people, for the long-term future of the game.
To people making comments like 'VC should just make a kick-ass football game' - its too later. In the olden days it might have worked. Change a couple of letters in the surname, and you're good to go.
But now - and especially with the next-gen - its the whole package. Players will look like the real players, stadiums will look like the real stadiums. So VC will have to make a kick-ass football game where the names are different, the players don't bear any resemblance to the real ones (or get sued), and the stadia are different. I don't see consumers buying that.
Pro Evo was a hard sell, and I honestly don't know if they'd be competing strongly in Europe with FIFA if they hadn't got some licensing deals in place. Reading some of the comments on here shows that real stats matter.
Major sports should be protected. In the UK, Sky pays a shitload of money for Premiership soccer rights. But the government/FA does not allow them exclusive access - there has to be at least highlights available to free-to-view TV. They understand that some people cannot afford pay-TV, and it is important to keep the game viewable to all people, for the long-term future of the game.
But those are non-exclusive licenses. Colin McRae can't use the WRC name etc, but can use Colin, and some cars - independently licensed. Pro Evo *does* have licenses now, and almost immediately increased its marketshare against FIFA.
The difference here is it seems that NFL is a watertight ship. You do a deal with them, and no-one else can use player likenesses etc.
TheDrowningMan
Member
I also hope they don't do some malign deal and wrangle exclusives on every football player's name to kill off Pro Evo in future.
In the event of that, I would urge Konami to scrap the PES name & call their next installment "THE BEST FOOTBALL GAME ON THE MARKET BUT ONE WHICH CANNOT USE REAL PLAYER NAMES BECAUSE THE CREATORS OF FIFA HAVE AN UNFAIR MONOPOLY ON THE LICENSE IN ORDER TO STIFLE COMPETITION " in bold yellow text.
In the event of that, I would urge Konami to scrap the PES name & call their next installment "THE BEST FOOTBALL GAME ON THE MARKET BUT ONE WHICH CANNOT USE REAL PLAYER NAMES BECAUSE THE CREATORS OF FIFA HAVE AN UNFAIR MONOPOLY ON THE LICENSE IN ORDER TO STIFLE COMPETITION " in bold yellow text.
Willco said:
I honestly think that EA will do both. I can easily see Madden NFL 2006 retailing for $59.99 USD and introducing a pay-to-play online scheme.
EA has got the consumer by the balls here. They're the only NFL game in town next year, and there are more than enough casual gamers and NFL fans who will pay to have Madden.
Who knows? Maybe this will finally start the upward trend of retail game prices that folks have been prophesizing for a while now.
TheDrowningMan
Member
AstroLad said:
Most people wouldn't & before you know it, series scrapped. PES dead forever.
TheDrowningMan said:
I think many of the millions of people that are die-hards of the game would, it's not like it's exactly a game that needs to reach out to a bunch of barely-a-fan schlubs like EA does with their games.
Regardless, I was merely discussing my personal preference; I've made my opinion known on the FIFA license situation several times in the past and suffice it to say I share your concerns.
MightyHedgehog
Member
Though I don't really play sports sims, I think the best thing that can come out of all this if EA ends up owning the field, is Tecmo's potentially bright future with a new Tecmo Bowl. Who needs the god damned real names and team logos? Just put an editor in there and you're set. Tecmo Bowl (NES)...the only football game I ever loved.
I still remember when EA had exclusive rights over FIFA...This didn't stop Konami to grew and grew with the PES series...And now things are better for Konami than EA (regarding soccer games).B E N K E said:
At the end the quality wins. Just that this has to be enough.
Anyways, Death to EA !
Jack Random
Member
1. I don't watch Football
2. I don't play Football games
3. This is absolutely disgusting
Wasn't there rumor of this months ago?
2. I don't play Football games
3. This is absolutely disgusting
Wasn't there rumor of this months ago?
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