Realistically, do you see the NFL ending the exclusivity deal?

[Exonerated]

Quote: Originally Posted by CodeBlueDude

So you're saying that Madden is a good representation of the NFL? Alot of things that happen in Madden don't normally occur in the NFL, (Tackling Physics, Over The Back Interceptions, breaking out of a 9 man tackle.)

Yes Madden is a good representation of the NFL. How could you argue that it is not? A reasonable person, and I stress reasonable, would see and play Madden and have no doubt in their mind that this is NFL football.

A lot of things that happen in Madden indeed do not occur in the NFL -- it's a game. You can argue that pro-tak does not working perfectly, and DBs sometimes make interceptions they shouldn't, and Chris Johnson once in a while breaks out of a 3 man tackle. But if these slight differences to real life is the essence of your argument, its not a reasonable perception.

[Exonerated]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

I personally dont see them renewing the contract. Maddens sales have decreased every year since the contract, regardless of what other outside forces factored into it. I dont see them being able to justify another $400 million contract to stay exclusive when it didnt gain them anything for the last 5 years. Madden has always sold well and will continue to do so even with competition from other companies. With another company releasing a product, Madden will be forced to improve and people will start picking it up again. It was never about exclusive rights to the customer. Pretty much everyone I knew had a copy of Joe Montana / Madden back in the Sega days. Then most of us had the Gamebreaker / Madden on Playstation. When the xbox and ps2 released I purchased both Madden and the 2k series and the majority of my friends did the same. The exlcusive contract hurt EA financially a lot more than it helped. Most football titles are not mutually exclusive. If I buy one, I will usually buy the other to see which title suits me the best for that paticular year. Ill go out on a limb here and actually predict that Madden would have sold BETTER over the past few years if there was no contract for exclusivity. All the other football games would have pushed each other to be better and everyone would have gotten a slice of the pie and the consumers would be better off in the long run as well.

wow 400 million for the exclusivity contract? I don't think so. That seems like a ridiculous amount. But I do agree that EA is operating at a loss due to the exclusivity deal. I think the NFL would rather lower the price of the deal instead of earning royalties.

[Crimsontide27]

$400 million isnt a stretch at all. EA paid the NFLPA $35 million in 2007 alone. That doesnt include the rights to the NFL, that was just money paid to the NFLPA for 1 year.

[tweety21]

EA can pay all they want BUT pirating and a crappy games will continue to hurt there pockets. People just wont buy em. In fact i know people who spent more on BANNED MODDED XBOX'S and modded PS2'S then they actually spent on EA'S complete 10 sports series. That from NCAA,MADDEN,TIGER WOODS,ect...FOR SOME its cheaper to buy 1 MODDED system each year than pay for 6 crappy EA SPORTS GAMES each year. If EA wanted to see there bottom line increase then they should do an exclusive SYSTEM deal with PS3 as its the only system that cant play PIRATED GAMES( lol)

[CreatineKasey]

It'll come down to profits IMO. If it's more profitable to corner the market with an exclusive deal, they'll do it. If it's not, they won't. The big unknown is the actual sales numbers and possible costs. We just don't know. Therefore, all we can do is blindly speculate unfortunately.

[deaduck]

Two things...

EA would drop the Madden name from the game before they gave up on the NFL deal, In my opinion.

And in all reality, The Sunday Ticket deal bothers me a whole lot more than Madden deal does.

[Evan_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by Exonerated

Yes Madden is a good representation of the NFL. How could you argue that it is not? A reasonable person, and I stress reasonable, would see and play Madden and have no doubt in their mind that this is NFL football. A lot of things that happen in Madden indeed do not occur in the NFL -- it's a game. You can argue that pro-tak does not working perfectly, and DBs sometimes make interceptions they shouldn't, and Chris Johnson once in a while breaks out of a 3 man tackle. But if these slight differences to real life is the essence of your argument, its not a reasonable perception.

This is totally my fault man, I was thinking way to strict about this rather than thinking reasonable.

[Bgamer90]

Quote: Originally Posted by CodeBlueDude

This is totally my fault man, I was thinking way to strict about this rather than thinking reasonable.

It's okay... I think all of us here at OS are less resonable than an average person is when it comes to Madden or sports games period.

The average person finds Madden pretty amazing for the most part... especially the older crowd that grew up with Mattel electronic football and football for the intellivision (like my dad). They would laugh at the "youtube guys". Heck... 10 years from now I think we will be too looking back at the videos they made.

It would be like watching someone zooming in closely and critiquing Madden 2000 lol.