News - EA secures monopoly on NFL rights
Posted by
Samuel Altersitz
at 08:26:28 PM EST on 12.13.2004.
EA has announced that it has signed a five-year deal with the NFL, and the NFL PLAYERS INC., a subsidiary of the NFL Players Association, that give EA exclusive rights to NFL team names, player names, and stadiums.
The deal, which EA has been pushing for for a while, gives EA a monopoly on "authentic" NFL games. Sega, Sony's 989 Sports, and any other company planning on releasing a NFL game after their current ones are simply not going to be able to get the proper licenses to do it.
"We are pleased to expand our agreement with Electronic Arts, the leading video game manufacturer and a valued NFL partner," said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "We look forward to working with EA to continue to enhance the quality of NFL video games that our fans have enjoyed for many years."
"For more than a decade, EA has produced the most authentic football product for fans of the game," said PLAYERS INC Chairman Gene Upshaw. "This exclusive relationship will maximize the value of NFL players through EA's continued commitment to bring fans closer to the game."
"We are excited about the opportunity to further enhance our relationship with the NFL and PLAYERS INC," said Larry Probst, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Arts. "The five-year agreements will usher NFL fans through the console technology transition with new ideas and innovative game play experiences."
While this is good for EA for eliminating competition from the market place, and the NFL from the money EA put forth for the contract, this is absolutely horrible for consumers. No matter how one thinks of
Madden, good or bad, the simple fact that there was competition forced EA to make improvements to
Madden to keep its place as the best selling NFL game on the market, even if it did outsell its competition.
Quite honestly, EA now has absolutely no incentive to do the same for the next five years. Anyone wanting a NFL game will simply have to buy
Madden. They'll have no other choice. EA could, concievably, release the exact same game year after year, during this contract, with nothing more than roster updates... and there wouldn't be a damn thing anyone could do about it. Except to boycott the games.
Will EA do this? It's hard to say, right now. EA claims that they will still need to make improvements to
Madden to keep their customers happy; but their now complete monopoly on all things NFL related in the mainstream video game market (consoles, handhelds, PC, not cell phones or PDAs) means NFL game fans have nowhere else to go.
Take Two Interactive and Sega, who jointly publish Sega Sports' ESPN line of sports video games were, understandably, not happy with this announcment.
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.”
And I whole heartedly agree. This is nothing but bad news for consumers.
Update: Sega Sports
could still make football games, but they wouldn't be allowed to use any real player, team, or stadium names. They'd have to change/make up names for everything, and it's doubtful that they would do that.
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flassh81 12.14.2004 at 06:05:40 PM
So let me get this straight? EA took away my favorite football series? THe series that got me into Football and knowing all the rules cause the Madden games were to overly complex and boring for me to learn? Thank you EA. I personally have vowed to NOT buy any EA games. I wanted burnout 3..but the hell with it.
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ttfp 12.14.2004 at 07:31:32 AM
In the football (or soccer in the USA) genre, Konami brought out ISS64, ISS98, and ISS2000 on the N64 back in the day. NONE of the player names were correct, they were all jumbled up words of the proper names. I'm not sure how commercially successful they were, but they were far better than FIFA back then.
Of course, the ISS line of football games has gone downhill, with Pro Evo/Winning Eleven being the one to get from Konami.
You can't just blame EA, they just want to secure their financial and monopoly power for the next few years. You also have to blame the games buying public who buy into EASport's game every single year....
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ytdb 12.14.2004 at 04:24:22 AM
Anytime you see the word "Monopoly" it's a bad thing... EA will have to pull some glorious Madden games out of their a**es over the nest 5 years to keep me buying. Hopefully SEGA will continue with the NCAA Football line...
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pixy misao 12.14.2004 at 03:24:22 AM
This is very bad. Madden will now be the only NFL game with real players and teams, everything other football game will have to be ficticious. What hardcore football video game player will buy any other title? ESPN must've given EA a good scare last year.
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relyt 12.14.2004 at 02:18:14 AM
Sega Soccer Slam, anyone? Probably my favorite sports game since Little League Baseball for the NES.
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slayer 12.14.2004 at 12:44:06 AM
Sports games suck. Buy a real videogame.
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drakken 12.13.2004 at 10:44:49 PM
This is truly a sad day for football game fans. Sega could still make football games, apparently, but they wouldn't be able to use any real player, team, or stadium names. They'd have to all be fake/made up, so I honestly don't know if they'll continue making them. That's a pity, since I'm a Sega fan.
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racebannon 12.13.2004 at 10:13:24 PM
No more changes for football games because of no competiton? Mabye it's me, but I never really saw a big change in football games to begin with besides graphics, but those are so good now it doesnt matter... It's sad but I'm not sure if it is a big loss...
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kryian 12.13.2004 at 09:00:37 PM
This is one situation where I wish gamers would unite to boycott a product. But most of the people I know who play the Madden games wouldn't even know what boycott means.
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aerobica 12.13.2004 at 08:55:40 PM
EA is quickly becoming the worst company ever! First, the "we don't pay our employees overtime" fiasco, now this. They must've used the extra money from not paying their employees to secure the NFL license.
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