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MagicMadness
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All Madden, All the Time; EA buys NFL license...
Topic Started: Dec 18 2004, 03:40 PM (239 Views)
MagicMadness
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Electronic Arts, the leading maker of sports video games, signed an exclusive five-year contract with the National Football League and the NFL Players Association, deals that will give the company sole possession of the licensed football video game business.

The partnership, which will commence with the publishing of Electronic Arts' Madden game next August, eliminates the competitive battle EA endured this year with ESPN's NFL 2K5 game, a joint venture between Sega and Take-Two Interactive. Without the use of team and player names, generic games have struggled for survival in the current environment.

Before this year, EA's Madden franchise -- which the company has sold more than 40 million copies of since its debut in 1989 -- previously dominated the football game marketplace. Bit players, including Midway, 989 Sports and Microsoft, dropped out of the licensed football game business this year.

But the Madden 2005 game was seriously challenged by NFL 2K5, thanks to good reviews and a pricing war. NFL 2K5 was available in stores in July for $19.95. For three months, the Madden game was priced at $49.95, until the company finally relented on Nov. 8 and lowered it by $20.

"We considered a whole variety of factors in making this decision," said Gene Goldberg, the NFL's vice president of consumer products. "We chose EA based on game quality, marketing ability and track record."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusin...tory?id=1945691

This sucks, IMO. Sure, our country was built on monopolies and blah blah blah...but I like the ESPN series more than EA's. I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but still, now we don't have the option of choosing what game we want - it's going to either be buy EA's NFL game or buy nothing. We'd just better pray that every Madden game for the next five years are great, because now we don't have a choice.

I just hope they don't also buy the NBA license because I'll be pissed off if there's no more NBA 2K series... >:( >:(
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fldude2k1
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This sucks. Why? Because of lack of competition. EA developers are known to be lazy as it is, but without competition, they may just sit on their heels. Plus they could sell games for 80 bucks if they even wanted to, because they are the only NFL game on the market and people would buy it. This is a lose lose situation for all ESPN and Madden fans. The only people who win really is EA.
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MagicMadness
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I think it sucks too. While the Madden series is no doubt great, I like to be able to choose what I want to play.

What if one year they come out with a Madden that really sucks? Oh well, if we want the latest NFL game, that's the one we have to buy. Plus, now that EA won't have any competition, they will be less inclined to be more innovative.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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is it just me or is there two posts that say the same thing?
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MagicMadness
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There was, but I just fixed it. ;)
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JaxHawk06
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fldude2k1
Dec 18 2004 11:07 PM
This sucks. Why? Because of lack of competition. EA developers are known to be lazy as it is, but without competition, they may just sit on their heels. Plus they could sell games for 80 bucks if they even wanted to, because they are the only NFL game on the market and people would buy it. This is a lose lose situation for all ESPN and Madden fans. The only people who win really is EA.

I agree, as much as I love Madden, no competition sucks, the prices will go back up to $50 bucks now and the game probably be as good as it could be
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