Do you like football video games? Do you like EA Sports' Madden franchise? If you don't and you wish that NFL 2Kx would return, I've got some bad news for you. EA Sports, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association have extended the current video game exclusivity contract by three years. Now there will be no other pro football game other than the one EA makes until the end of the 2012 season, which ends in February of 2013.
Yup. The only professional football game on the market for the next five years will be Madden. Sad news for those of you who loved 2K's football series before the contract in 2005, or if you liked NFL Blitz when it had pro teams.
Peter Moore, head of EA Sports (formerly head of Microsoft's Gaming Division, and Sega), stated in a press release: "For nearly two decades, EA SPORTS has been bringing sports fans closer to the great game of football through the breakthrough interactive experiences of our videogames. Game quality is our top priority, and we're committed to pushing our gameplay innovation, connecting football fans via rich online experiences and delivering the most visually stunning sports games on the market." Yeah.
Game quality is their top priority...
In that same press release, the head of NFL Ventures, Eric Grubman declared "This is all about bringing authenticity and realism to NFL videogames...EA SPORTS continually works to maintain the cutting edge for NFL products across a variety of gaming platforms. We like the fact that they never rest." You know who else never rested? 2K Sports and Sony's 989 Sports. They both had good games (in fact,
989 was reworking NFL Gameday before the EA contract), but unfortunately, the NFL license had to go to the highest bidder.
However, the most worrysome thing to arise out of this development is a quote Peter Moore said in an
interview with Kotaku: "Sports has that opportunity... to have levels or different types of teams delivered digitally, but I think we are a long way away from that...The model we currently have, where we have the game on the disc and updates every few weeks and some micro-transactions works for us. We continue to look at that, but we're still away from truly episodic." Oh boy, that might mean what all of you here love so much,
DOWNLOADABLE EPISODIC CONTENT! Why do I think he's alluding to a future in which you will not buy Madden at a store, but rather over the internet and bulding your own game? An interesting concept, but I don't think it would work well with a football game, nor would it go over well with many gamers.
So, are you ready for some EA controlled football?!
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Thats such shit. I hate EA. Great work on the pic BTW. LOL
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... ugh. They'd be forced to make their games ALOT better if they had competition... they know that, which is why they own the exclusive rights. This is another kick in the face for football fans that have been waiting 4 years for another licensed 2K football game. ... at least Microsoft finally emualted 2K5 on the XBOX 360. I wish Sega was able to update the roosters though.
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Truthfully, they own the exclusive rights because it's a great move financially. They essentially have a monopoly on the video game football market. The lack of competition, and thus a better product, are just a by-product of greed.
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Love the pic lol
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When will you guys realise this is not football...
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@Belgarath:
I know it's not football. But I call it that because it's the standard here in the US of A.
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@Belgarath: You are correct ours is actually fun to watch. 
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Everyone is missing the bright side to this. With EA owning exclusive rights, that means fewer football games cluttering store shelves, leaving room for better games to take their place.
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@c1581:
True that. 
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@Belgarath: United FTW?
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worst news since they announced it in 05.
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