Gallant Pig

Or maybe the opposite, maybe no NCAA games. Afterall, NCAA doesn't sell as well and always gets used football engines. Why pump money into something that doesn't sell well. More specifically I'm thinking of the next generation.

Gallant Pig

Wouldn't the NFL make more from a lower price? I'm assuming their license is a flat fee and the more games sold the more money they make?

gp98

It might be flat fee but when you look at some titles (like backyard football) you have to assume that they're not spending the same amount that EA is. My guess is that it's like record deals paying artists where some are flat fee and others are based on sales.

Drexl

The deal includes the player's association. Sega would have to find a player not in it, or willing to give up his membership. He couldn't wear his uniform on the cover though.

So now EA has exclusive rights to:

The NFL and its players' association
James Bond
Harry Potter
the LOTR movies

am I missing any?

Gromit

NASCAR and FIFA.

joltaddict

FIFA too? So they have the most popular sport in the US and the most popular sport in the rest of the world locked up?

taylor34

And the PGA.

nickdawgy

I don't think they have exclusive rights to the PGA

Gromit

I think so, but I'm just going from memory. I think I read that in one of the recent stories about the NFL deal.

NitroJMS

That's why ESPN/Sega/Take 2 would have to likely get a retired star like Elway, Marino, Montana, or Barry Sanders to headline the game, or maybe even Jerry Rice or if he retires after this year.

Interestingly, I just read on GameSpot that there's rumors at EA about them dropping the Madden license and just going with EA Sports NFL 200* in the future. Perhaps it could be ESPN Madden Football. That'd certainly be a strange twist.

gmal2003

With Madden being so particular when it comes down to details of the Madden series, I highly doubt he'd be apart of a game without real players. (Unless Bret Favre would retire and do the cover )

Outlaw

wow

I have no interest in the annual football game re-releases but i didn't think it was possible for one company to license something like this.

fujishig

Wait... John Madden actually looks at the game before it comes out? I would have thought he just puts his name on it, and doesn't actually check it out...

Wasn't there a game called Joe Montana's football before?

gmal2003

Yep, I figured he did that too, just show up on the cover and do commentary. He actually plays apart in many aspects of the game as far as realism goes (stadiums, hits, animations, etc...) because he is arrogant and wouldnt allow his name on something that isnt up to his standards (that might be a stretch calling him arrogant but anywho). He takes it rather serious.

taylor34

I believe that they do, or at least the majority of the players and events. Hence, no other golf games that have that stuff anymore. Kind of why golf games have gone downhill for the past several years other than the Links game for xbox. Tiger Woods is too unrealistic to be any sort of good golf game.

Taylor34

taylor34

The original John Madden had no players names or teams, and I believe that Madden 64 didn't have real player names either.

Taylor34

gmal2003

things have changed considerably since then though

Jeremy517

Madden 2005 for all consoles is $20 at Walmart now, including online.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2553917 for XBox
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2553894 for Gamecube
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=2553982 for PS2

gmal2003

Im glad Ive waited so long to get Madden, Ill now own both NFL 2005 games for 40 bucks this year.

Funny story: A friend of mine bought Madden 2005 when it first came out (regular edition - 50 bucks). He didnt like NFL 2K5 and only played Madden 2005 a few times so he kept playing Madden 2004 this whole time (40th year of his franchise) and kept Madden 2005 in the case never opening it or even peeling off the shrink wrap. Since then the game price continues to drop. He bought a $50 game and has held off playing til now it cost only 20 .

OK maybe not that funny but...

sentineles

A couple of things hit me as I'm reading this. First off, EA is very smart but very short-sighted. This deal is killing them from a PR standpoint and it may cause them to lose more money by not being able to recoup the losses caused by the exclusivity agreement. All I play is sports game and at that I truly prefer the ESPN games so I'm extremely disappointed that this is what it has come to. What ever happened to making a superior product? I probably will not purchase Madden 2006 simply on principle, I may even trade in my X-box.

Some facts to clear up, ESPN & ABC are owned by Disney so they could have already pressured Madden for his name on the ESPN game and yes I've seen clips where Madden sits in development, in particular I remember Dante Hall telling Madden specifically that he was under-rated on the game and it got fixed. I believe EA has a contract to keep Madden's name on the game through 2008. Madden 64 was generic, I dont remember if it had NLFPA licensing but I distinctly remember there were no NFL teams, logos, or identical colors(similar but not identical). As for the other leagues, I doubt anyone is dying to buy up the NHL license. And on this example, why buy the NBA or MLB license? Unlike the NFL, their unions have gone on strike in recent years and then you would lose at least interest in 1 game if not the game itself. The NFL is the most stable of the "4 major" sports for now, more on this later. There is a reason why many people say the NFL aka No Fun League is the most powerful organization in the country. The NFLPA, TV networks, DirecTV, etc. are relatively powerless and generally play the bridesmaid in every decision made by the NFL. And it is really making some money now, the networks, radio stations, and DirecTV have re-upped in recent weeks. As for the price, I doubt there will be any increase in price because at a certain point your price will exclude so many customers that there will be no profit. We may see an increase to see how much people are willing to pay but they will find their best price is where it is now, 49.99. Remember Madden is not competing with just ESPN, etc. but with GTA, Halo, and other videogames including older versions. Indirectly, they're competing with TV, movies, music, books, etc. so if they falter there will be plenty for people to do with their newfound extra time. So the game goes to 59.99, you'll buy GTA/Halo 2 and Madden 2001 or watch a new TV show/movie/etc. and be just as happy. Can you still use Windows 3.x? Yes but I doesnt have all the frills or support as the newer versions, same applies to Madden. I can still play Madden 2001 but there are inferior graphics, updated rosters, etc. So EA will still have to improve the game some to get people to buy it. One vaguely presented option is that EA what may really be after is contracting out the license. Maybe it will become "EA's ESPN Football" and Sega/VC pay EA for the rights to use the licensing. I'm not sure what EA's contract entails but I'm sure the NFL would not be happy b/c then EA would benefit from there being more authentic games and the NFL would be left out. Doesnt EA already use different developers for their NFL games? EA is more of publisher and distributor these days right? Maybe EA offers 3 or 4 different NFL games in the coming years instead of 2 (Madden and Street). If I remember correctly, Madden is more front-office driven, ESPN is more gameplay driven, and Street is more arcade driven. There's 3 completely different games. If EA were smart, this would be their next move. You could even have different broadcast crews: Madden and Michaels for Madden 2006, Sunday Night crew for EA's ESPN 2k6, and Jesse Ventura and the other guy from the XFL for NFL Street.

Here's the best play, you can have content but if you have no content provider(who really plays sports games on the computer?) you're screwed so what we need to do is let Sony and MS realize that EA is becoming a huge threat and get Sony and MS to exclude them from the next generation, competition benefits the manufacturers as well. I think there are many people who buy consoles purely to play football/sports games and if the only one out there is one we dont want to play why buy a console? Of course there will be a huge desire to cheat and lock up the company that owns the rights to several annual revenue cash cows, while I dont play them I would think the Harry Potter games make a little dough as well as LOTR. While on MS, this sounds just like something they would do doesnt it? Hopefully now MS realizes there is a 200-ton guerilla that impacts their business and will attempt to buy up Sega and especially Visual Concepts and make a run to lock up the NBA and wait for the EA deal to expire while developing a great football game to hold us "fanboys" over and then outbid EA for the NFL even though I'd still prefer competition. And for those of you thinking I'm implying that MS force Sega and VC to only release for X-box(2), I'm not because you can make a lot more money selling games across 2+ consoles than just 1.

However this may be in our best interests, word is that the NFL and the NFLPA are on very opposite ends of the table when it comes to the next agreement. This deal limits the players opportunities to make some extra money marketing games, only one coverboy for Madden each year, and this deal could anger the union a little more. Which could make the next exclusive agreement difficult to negotiate.

How long until EA buys Sony, MS, Nintendo, or decides to create their own console? I guess MS is not the biggest problem in this market afterall. Holy crap this is long, sorry I'm just a little irate.

nickdawgy

How did he play Madden 2005 if he didn't open it?

gp98

I thought that you made some good points but I wanted to respond to a couple of these parts....

First, I know that there are preferences but Madden was the superior product when it comes down to sales. My guess is that the NFL saw this and knew that EA would pay a huge amount to make sure that that revenue continued (more than all the other licenses combined) so they offered exclusivity. So the NFL is making more money, no matter what EA does with it, because EA had been making obscene amounts of money off of an NFL product (in a sense) and the NFL wanted a bigger cut.

Your final point seems like you're using the "two wrongs make a right" strategy. Why push out a developer? Maybe strong arm EA by MS and Sony working together with demands but these are two companies that already voluntarily withdrew their challenges to EA's football reign. I think not that if either company didn't accept EA, it would be their death....(see Dreamcast).

hail2dking

Check out this scenario:

Sony pays exclusivity rights to EA to only have Madden on PS3.... Now if you want to play NFL football, you have to buy Madden and a PS3...might change a lot of minds of people deciding which next generation console to buy

(or fast forward 3 years, EA has excusivity rights to all major/minor US sports, owns 50% of all major/minor game houses, releases their own console and dominates the world!!! at least the US/Euro Market)

Chris_D

Well by that stage they'll fully own Square/enix and probably Konami and Capcom as well, so I'm sure that world domination won't present any issues .

BigDan

I have preferred Madden and have bought it regularly year after year for several years. Because of this exclusivity agreement, I'm not entirely sure I'll be buying Madden next year.

Even though my preferred game will still be the one that's out there, I just don't like exclusivity deals like this.