I remember reading that Sega said the ESPN titles weren't appearing anymore on Gamecube, but then I also read that they were just taking a 1 year hiatus and the 2k5 titles may come back to Gamecube.

Has there been any official announcement as to whether the next batch of ESPN titles will be back on Gamecube or not?

I don't think there's been anything official.. but I wouldn't count on it.

I dont think it makes much sense for them. People mostly interested in sports titles dont buy a Gamecube.

Sports titles don't sell well for the Cube so I doubt they will. However, I wish they would at least do a limited run of the ESPN Basketball on the Cube. At least if they made sure it doesn't freeze up every other game like 2K3.

Oddly enough though I think EA is adding MVP Baseball to the Cube next year.

I would love to see some Sega basketball, that doesn't freeze up like someone else said, back on the Cube. I really think Sega was pointing the finger at everyone but themselves for shoddy ports of their product that didn't sell. It doesn't surprise me one bit that EA keeps bringing the titles in boatloads for the Cube, and I know they have their fingers crossed that Sega doesn't return to the system. I'm pretty loyal to EA anyway, but their basketball titles are horriific, which is nicely putting it...

I don't think Sega was pointing the finger at anyone. They just made a business decision and went with it. EA Sports titles don't sell that well either on the Cube. It may be that leaving out Cube owners from enjoying the latest Nascar Thunder game is just the beginning.

That really sucks. At least Madden's staying on the Cube.

If the boats bringing in EA Gamecube sports tiltes are dinghies, then the description is accurate... which is why Sega sports will not return.

There's more to the decision then strict sales numbers however. It's about product loyalty. I had been a huge fan of the Sega Sports football and hockey games ever since they premiered on the Dreamcast. Now however, only owning a Gamecube, my only choice is the EA Sports lineup, which while I don't think is as good of a game (at least NFL wise), is what I play. If that remains my only choice, my attitude towards returning to the Sega Sports series may change.

So, I think EA's rationale is regardless of the sales numbers on any given console, they want their product out there for everyone to play. Hopefuly Sega does return to the Cube for that reason. Their sports games are great, but not enough people have given them a shot.

I'm not sure that that is EA's rationale, considering they didn't support the Sega Dreamcast. Because of that decision, they are now in a nasty battle with VC/Sega Sports for critical acclaim and sometimes even sales of their sports titles. Had they supported the Dreamcast, perhaps many of those excellent Sega Sports titles would have been overlooked, just as other great non-EA titles had been on previous consoles.

To my knowledge they have outsold Sega, 989, and Microsoft with every sports title including their Basketball game which many feel is inferior. Not supporting the Dreamcast hasn't seemed to hurt EA at all. There will always be competition for the lucrative sports market, but EA seems to be handling it well.

For whatever reason they have stayed loyal to Nintendo. Even the MVP Baseball game is supposed to come out on the Cube next year. I buy the EA sports titles on the Cube and now that I'm used to playing them I will probably stick with them even if I get a system with Sega Sports support in the future. I think EA sells so many copies of their sports titles on the PS2 and Xbox that they can handle the costs of the limited sales on the Cube. This was not an option for Sega as they lost millions on their sports titles on all the consoles in 2002.

The Cube has a much larger install base than the Dreamcast ever did so trying to get the sports gamers that only have Cubes addicted to their games probably makes more sense to EA than it did for the Dreamcast.