EA Sports Deals the Death Blow

[Kalyx triaD]

The bastards at EA Sports have done it again. They got ESPN. For 15 years.

I repeat.

EA Sports and ESPN have a 15 year exclusive deal with each other. You can find the bullsh*t Here. (http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580401p1.html)

When SEGA hits back, they better hit hard. Not since SEGA/Nintendo did a rivalry seem so personal. This isn't the end of SEGA Sports Football, atleast I hope not.

Screw you EA Sports, you business bastards are singlehandidly bringing about a dark climate for the game industry. Get ready for a dark future people; ONE racing game, ONE fighting game, ONE adventure game. It all started with ONE football game. :foc:

I hope I'm wrong.

[OssMan]

Madden is the best game anyway

[asphyXy]

NHL 2006 :(

[Kalyx triaD]

Madden is the best game anyway

I don't even feel like debating; but I will say if EA Sports felt like you did they wouldn't make such drastic steps against SEGA.

Can you, as a gamer, seriously agree with spitting in the face of football game fans? Not Madden fans, not ESPN fans; football game fans..? If so, you're not a gamer at all; just another consumer that know little about what games are for in the first place.

[OssMan]

They dont care about what the consumers feel because they just want sales

a monopoly if you will

All in all i dont really care because i just want my playstation to work

[Kalyx triaD]

They dont care about what the consumers feel because they just want sales

a monopoly if you will

All in all i dont really care because i just want my playstation to work

:wtf: O...k.

[MrMeJW]

Fox Sports NBA 2k6

[OssMan]

If the game is a lot different then I will probably be mad because I like it how it is

[Head]

LOL

[RoXer]

I made a huge-ass post somewhere else explaining why I liked Madden better than ESPN. Don't want to find it though. Personally, I like ESPN basketball better than Live. So it all comes down to what you like.

And I seriously wouldn't doubt a FOX Sports game. They have a FOX Sports hockey and basketball (I beilieve).

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

ITS NOT RIGHT FOR THE GAMERS!!!!!

Shut up, the games will be good regardless. NCAA Football 2005 is the only college football game out there really. And it's fucking sick. EA Sports get no competition when it comes to college football, and its still nasty every single years.

Whatever, I like EA Sports so keep inking deals baby haha

[BCWWF]

I don't get the new deal? What does that mean exactly?

[Shaggy]

Oh this sucks balls....

I hope that EA does the smart thing and release 2 different games for each sport doing the ESPN version cheaper. To hell if I will pay 50 for 2 sports games....to hell I will pay 50 for one sports game. I cant believe EA had dont this to the fans. I am losing some serious respect for EA right now.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

whatever the only sports games I play are EA so its alllllllllllllllllllll gooooooooooood

[Kalyx triaD]

I don't get the new deal? What does that mean exactly?

Let's recap:

Last month EA pissed on us by getting an exclusive deal with the No Fun League. This raised questions on how SEGA would handle this. But after a while, people already had thoughts of an ESPN Football 2K6 title; a completely customizable game. This wasn't made certain by SEGA, but it seemed pretty obvious.

Now EA Sports nabbed ESPN for themselves as well, preventing SEGA from using the presentation that allowed SEGA to smoke Madden's '05 game recently. Now SEGA has a great football engine, and literally nothing else.

Isn't Fox Sports taken by another developer?

Anyway, this will bottle the football game side of things by making sure everyone looks to ONE place for an NFL game. Whatever. ESPN NFL '05 had EA Sports pissing their pants and look at how they face competition; a buyout. Not a better game, a better deal.

And reading about the rest of Electronic Arts exploits across seas, it's safe to say we have a real life Umbrella Corp. on our hands. And I always thought Microsoft would be the bullies.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

I'm not overtly concerned being that I can play and enjoy both games, but for people saying this will not effect them as they are Madden supporters, I can safely say it will effect you. EA has already sent out envoices saying that the price of Madden will inflate next year (of course it will, they have no competition so you have to buy there product, at whatever price they set, if you want an NFL game). AND in our system the game it being priced anywhere from 55 to 60 dollars when it's released. That's a hell of a price jump, granted that's in no means the final price, but it is what EA reps are estimating to the store.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

ITS NOT RIGHT FOR THE GAMERS!!!!!

Shut up, the games will be good regardless. NCAA Football 2005 is the only college football game out there really. And it's fucking sick. EA Sports get no competition when it comes to college football, and its still nasty every single years.

Whatever, I like EA Sports so keep inking deals baby haha
Enjoy the inflated prices next year :y:

[The Forgotten One]

Gay.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Pro Evolution Soccer is the best football game around. EA Sports sucks dick.

[Boomer]

I think ESPN are genious for dodging the bullet and joining the evil side. Now I wouldn't be surprised for EA to drop Madden completely. They don't need his name anymore. Especially since there will only be one video game on the market.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Ugh, this is fucking bullshit.

Looks like I'm gonna be settling with Madden '05, MVP '04, ESPN NHL 2k4, and NBA Live 2003 as my only sports games. :-\

I'll be fucked if I'm paying $60 for a newer game unless it has one HELL of a lot of new stuff done to it.</font>

[BCWWF]

So are the EA games going to be ESPN NFL, ESPN Baseball, ESPN NHL, ESPN NBA?

Then the Sega games go back to World Series Baseball, NBA2k6, NHL2K6?

Or is the ESPN only for the football brand? Aren't there laws against this kind of monopoly stuff?

[BCWWF]

I don't really like football games that much anyway, and I never really liked EA's football gameplay that much. I played NFL Fever beforehand and only bought ESPN NFL this year because it was so damn cheap. I just won't get a football game next year, and if I want to play somebody else probably will have it. Meh.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

Enjoy the inflated prices next year :y:Oh I will :y:


NCAA is the only college football game out there "worth a damn" and its pretty reasonably priced. I don't know, like every video game I see costs 49.99 anyways so I don't think it matter.

[samichna]

Hey, I have an idea, don't be a little bitch and waste ANY money on video games at all.

[Astley316]

Hey at least they cant monopalise football

we'll always have pro evo

well soccer to the americans

[Kalyx triaD]

This isn't about Soccer. Football, pigskin football. And EA Sports sux ass for all I care. If EAS releases a $60 football game, it's nobody's problem but the 'fans' of Madden; who have no choice but to get that game. I don't think you guys are seeing what's being done here:

If you want an NFL Football game, you have ONE place to go. Imagine Capcom owning the rights to Survival-Horror? Bye Silent Hill. Nintendo patenting Platform gameplay, that'll screw so many developers it wouldn't be funny. Developers creating link cables and other items specifically for their game so you have ONE place to find them. I know it's about profit in the end, but we shouldn't be so quick to applaud how much they can bleed from us. It's not like any of you work there.

I seriously hope the next Madden sell four copies for the four losers who accept getting it in the ass. But there's so many people getting Madden for it's name alone, it won't be that way. Once again we're a slave to someone's business decision.

[DS]

Taking this pretty personal.

[Arashi Kage]

I didn't think that NHL on Fox existed anymore, but if Sega picks up the Fox Sports license, will we get to play Fox NHL hockey using the whole Blue-Pass / Red-Shoot thing.

:shifty:

Although it wouldn't really target the US market, it would be cool if Sega would take the initiative of creating Hockey Night in Canada.

[mitch_h]

While I agree it is pretty lame. You are definetly blowing things way out of proportion. Capcom buying the rights to survival horror... wtf? That would be like paramount purchasing romantic comedies.

[Head]

I don't think you guys are seeing what's being done here:

If you want an NFL Football game, you have ONE place to go.
Oh really? Well, now that you put it that way, I'm outraged by all of this. Those IGN news articles are really hard to understand, so thanks for clearing that up.

I personally liked the NFL2k series better than Madden, but it's a fucking video game, I don't see how people are getting so upset about it. If EA can kill off their competition, more power to them, they'd be fools not to.

Besides, I don't see anybody calling THQ evil for owning the exclusive rights to WWE games.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

I highly doubt they are going to release Madden for 60 dollars. That would be stupid. Like EVERY game I see is 49.99 or less, they compete againest other videogames, not just other football video games.

[Gonzo]

I'm in disbelief that some of you think EA is despicable for doing this, when in actuality it is a regular business practice.

I liked both Madden and ESPN this year, ended up trading in ESPN and picked up Madden a different time. I tend to have enjoyed Madden more, so when EA can use the ESPN license's starting in 2006 I'll be happy.

[BCWWF]

Wouldn't it kind of make sense for Madden to release it for like $30, because then a lot more people would buy it. I mean if its $60 I definately wouldn't buy it because I don't care that much, but if it was $30 I probably would. I assume its the same for a lot of people, so if twice as many people buy a cheaper version it would benefit them more. Meh

[AareDub]

Maybe I'm one of few, but I think this is fucking awesome. Madden was a far superior football game, the only thing the ESPN games had going for them was, well, the ESPN. I love the presentation of the ESPN/ABC football stuff, this is going to make Madden (or whatever EA's new game is called because I heard it won't be Madden) the best football game EVER.

I don't care about their business dealings and such, and I don't think they'll get lazy without significant competition. It's well known that everybody loved the ESPN presentation aspects of the 2k5 games, so it seems to me like EA is trying to better their product. If it fucks over the competition, so be it. Sega can move on from football for all I care, EA 4 life (lol).

[Kalyx triaD]

Okay, maybe I'm taking this alittle extreme, but this is where I'm coming from:

As an aspiring game developer, I look toward the best ways someone can enjoy playing a videogame. I'm not going out to make the best videogame ever, but with the right dose of my artistic imput mixed with what gamers want these days, it won't be the worst game either. So I always believed that best companies are the ones that make games and decisions based on the GAMER. But that's slowly changing, more companies are trying to make the most money by any means possible, forgeting what game developers are here for, video games.

I'm not blind to other money driven decisions made by developers and publishers, and I watch their move as much as their games. I know THQ and the WWE been kissy face for years, but we can trust that THQ can level out the license to differnent developers; which is why no one complains: We still have three different WWE games to choose from. Choice, people.

I don't even buy football games, Hell; it was my brother's Madden '04 that got me into football games. But I feel better knowing if I don't like Madden, I have an alternate choice for my NFL sim-play. How did most of us feel when Vince bought WCW/ECW? Were we like, "Hey, business is business; we LOVE having ONE place to watch sports entertainment!" Hell no. After the InVasion angle, the last great WWE storyline, things went downhill for WWE. Coincidence, go bang yourself.

And Madden will suffer the same fate. They'll rest on nobodies bottom line but their own; we'll never know how good a Madden game can be because it's only real competitor can barely compete now.

I can see the reviews now; "ESPN Madden '06 is a great football game..." Compared to what, NFL Street 3? They can no longer say things like, "If you want a quality football sim, look no further." Because you can't.

You feel me, players?

[DS]

Of course it's a greedy move but that doesn't mean there is only going to be 1 football game. That just means there will be 1 football game with licensed players. College football games never had names and people still loved them. It's about the game, not the players. Yeah, it bring a factor in to the game that can't be duplicated, but still.

Greedy and genius move by EA. Not like they're buying up everything else.

[Sephiroth]

whatever the only sports games I play are EA so its alllllllllllllllllllll gooooooooooood

[El Capitano Gatisto]

They just own the official license, yeah?

If another company decides to make an American football game, without all the official stuff, then they still can. And if it's a better game, then hopefully people will buy it.

EA Sports tried to monopolise the soccer game market with the FIFA series, but because the Pro Evolution Soccer games from Konami are actually better, people went for quality over licensing. It means we have to put up with some clubs and players not having real names at the start of the game, but Pro Evolution Soccer probably does even better in sales that the FIFA series does now.

Or it's on the same level, at least. If a better football game comes out, it's up to people to buy it for how good it is, and not for fancy licensing.

[Loose Cannon]

EA SPORTS. IT'S IN THE GAME. YEAH, HAVE IT

I don't care, I play whatever..

[VonErich Lives]

Good marketing move by EAsports.

and ECG has a point, I think it won't work as well in sports like football, people want the player names.

But that's the breaks, it's a marketing move.

Nothing different then how you can only use Visa to pay for you're patriots season tickets, or get Coke products at McDonalds.

[LoDownM]

I personally like both of them, but meh, whatever. You know your all gonna by ESPN Madden NFL 2006, and whatever unliscened game Sega comes out with.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Good marketing move by EAsports.

and ECG has a point, I think it won't work as well in sports like football, people want the player names.

But that's the breaks, it's a marketing move.

Nothing different then how you can only use Visa to pay for you're patriots season tickets, or get Coke products at McDonalds.
People like their real names in soccer games, too, which is why FIFA (EA) still sells so tremendously well, every single year, despite it being absolute shit. It sells on the names alone, because PES (Konami) is much, much better.

PES has only caught up in sales recently, but in doing so it has been able to purchase more licenses.

But since clubs, players, leagues etc. are a mulitnational thing, and clubs run as private or publically owned businesses, there are a lot more licenses up for grabs.

[RemyRed]

Has EA settled the lawsuit filed by its own workers yet?

[Savio]

NHL 2006 :(

Is EA sports going to do a hockey thing seeing as though its ummmm dead?

[Kalyx triaD]

2K Sports Returns to the Gridiron
Forget Madden, 2K Sports gives you All-Pro Football 2K8.
by Douglass C. Perry

January 30, 2007 - Quietly and in its own way, 2K Sports never gave up the dream of making another, better football game. Today, with little aplomb, Visual Concepts announced the return of non-Madden football in the name of All-Pro Football 2K8 -- news that will surely excite the masses.

Other than its arrival on next-generation videogame systems this summer, 2K Sports provided no other details. The site says the game will feature the "legendary gameplay, innovative features, and outstanding visual quality sports gamers have come to expect from 2K Sports." IGN predicted this in a recent article, including speculation that 2K will sign up individual former pros to get around EA's strangehold on the licensed football market.

"Football gamers have been awaiting the return of the 2K series," said Greg Thomas, president of Visual Concepts, a 2K Sports studio. "All-Pro Football 2K8 will deliver an authentic next generation gridiron experience and we are happy to give fans another choice in the football category."

We'll have more on All-Pro Football 2K8 soon.

Damn straight.

[DS]

So much for that "death blow."

[Kalyx triaD]

I suppose in hindsight the thread title was abit of hyperbole...

[Jesus Shuttlesworth]

ENJOY THE INCREASED PRICES!!!!!!!!!!

[Kalyx triaD]

I wouldn't mind paying $60 for a 2K Sports football title. The hell with buying any of the last 2 Maddens that amount; though I like '07.

[Mr. Monday Morning]

I just picked up NFL 2k5 on XBox yesterday for £10 brand new :cool:

[D Mac]

So this 2k8 won't be NFL?

[Stickman]

Can you blame them? They know people are going to buy it either way, just now they can charge more, and people like yourself will probably end up buying.

[Mr. Monday Morning]

Didn't really read the topic through, did ya?

[weather vane]

I'm so pumped we got the ESPN license. The only thing I liked about ESPN football was the cool replays and pregame they did. I was hoping for a game with the Madden gameplay and ESPN's other stuff. MADDEN 08 IS GOING TO BE UNREAL! THANK YOU EA!

[Kane Knight]

ENJOY THE INCREASED PRICES!!!!!!!!!!

DEATH BLOW BAH GAWD STUNNER!

[Kalyx triaD]

Madden 08 better be kick-ass, the 2K guys had two years to see what not to do with a football game. They will embarrass EA. Blitz already proved people will buy a non-NFL product (even if it sucks), so All-Pro Football should do well. 2K5 was so damn good years ago, I expect good shit on 360 and PS3. ...And something inventive on Wii.

[D Mac]

Blitz didn't suck.

[Kalyx triaD]

Okay it didn't suck-suck but I'm just sayin...