2K and WiiU - 2K's best route into the football gaming market!

[illiterateoption]

Tonight I was watching some video reviews on PS4 and Wii U. I was considering what it would take for 2K to come out with a new football title. They can make a licensed NCAA game or an unlicensed game...but haven't for fear of the Madden juggernaut.

Alas...I thought about the Wii U. Madden has elected not to move forward, at least for now, in supporting Nintendos latest console. Madden had some very cool features on the WiiU, most notably the playcalling using the gamepad (pro controller support was also available). Without EA and Madden, WiiU is left without a football title.

2K has an opportunity to do something here. They can develop an NCAA or unlicensed game for the WiiU without competition from Madden. This would allow them to build their brand and give the WiiU some legitimacy amongst the sports gaming community. After all, football is this nation's most popular sport. Without a football title in its library, I'm leaning towards the PS4 but really like the WiiU and what it offers.

Thoughts?

[mestevo]

My thought is that's like saying they should make a game for the Game Gear instead of Vita or 3DS.

They probably aren't passing on NCAA 'for fear of the Madden juggernaut' (say nothing of the existing NCAA title), but rather the ongoing player likeness litigation that could make future titles unreasonable to keep producing. When the player likeness stuff is settled maybe they'll take a stab at it, but I'd be surprised to see anything prior as the investment in a quasi-annual sports title probably isn't going to pay off within 1-2 games.

As to a generic game, for various reasons these have all tended to be half baked and/or the community has declined to support them. Releasing it for the WiiU would almost certainly doom the effort to continue that trend.

If they want to reach their audience they've got to take on their competition, not avoid them.

[tril]

bad idea, for the WiiU. reason being

1. the Wiiu system is considered a failure. and will most likely sell less units once the PS4 and XBOX one are released.

2. THE NFL license

3. The Wiiu system is considered a kiddy gaming system. Its not for hard core gaming or real sim styled gamers.

[elgreazy1]

Drop the NFL & NCAA licenses. 2K or any football game doesn't need them, it is really that simple. Like all video games, people want to play a great game with a great experience that keeps you coming back for more, period.

I honestly feel if a developer were to create a great game of football and then turn over the customization options to the user, the NFL & NCAA licensing would take care of itself through the community. We've seen this in the modding communities of WWE, Madden PC, ESPN2K5, CH2K8, APF2K8, and Backbreaker where the community and their love for the game and sport kept those games going for a long time. Give the users customization and they can re-create their own NFL or NCAA or can concoct any type of league structure they'd so imagine.

[footballfan41]

1st..as much as i would LOVE to see EA have some comp in the football games area, (be good for all gamers)..2nd.. EA has the NFL licensed and NCAA licensed EA can not use names of the players..but they do pay the NCAA money for using the name and schools, so No one at this time can make one..3rd... Who really want football without REAL cities to play with, they are ways around players names, But no way around the Cities...and 4th..as much as i Love football video games I Would NOT in anyway waste my money on a WiiU if it did have the only football game...all it is a Big door stop!!!!...WiiU should show everyone that the Die Hard gamers is what keep this business going Not the Mom & Dads with little Johnny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrprice33]

Quote: Originally Posted by elgreazy1

Drop the NFL & NCAA licenses. 2K or any football game doesn't need them, it is really that simple. Like all video games, people want to play a great game with a great experience that keeps you coming back for more, period. I honestly feel if a developer were to create a great game of football and then turn over the customization options to the user, the NFL & NCAA licensing would take care of itself through the community. We've seen this in the modding communities of WWE, Madden PC, ESPN2K5, CH2K8, APF2K8, and Backbreaker where the community and their love for the game and sport kept those games going for a long time. Give the users customization and they can re-create their own NFL or NCAA or can concoct any type of league structure they'd so imagine.

Except Backbreaker and APF barely sold.

Look, going WiiU exclusive anything is a terrible idea for any dev right now. There aren't nearly enough systems to justify the expense, and the low attach rate for anything that's not a Nintendo title makes it even less feasible. It's telling when formerly WiiU-exclusive titles (Rayman) get delayed in order to make them multiplatform and even EA Sports is running away from you as fast as possible.

[elgreazy1]

Agreed, both of them barely sold, but both releases also completely dropped the ball in terms of entering the market.

With APF2K8, 2K was trying to straddle the line of having a football game while still being able to appeal to the NFL. They blew a large majority of their budget by signing "Legends" to 3-year deals; these legends subsequently did nothing to promote the game. Their marketing campaign revolved around using under-ground hip-hop rappers. The development team completely stripped away much of what made the NFL2K series great: presentation, depth, NO FRANCHISE MODE, etc. The kiss of death came when the devs felt the need to completely handicap users in terms of customization: 20 create-a-player max slots, 8 create-a-team max slots, no way to share rosters, playbooks, sliders, etc. I could go on and on with this.

Backbreaker failed mainly because it was used as a vehicle to promote the Euphoria engine. The game was never really meant to compete in the football genre arena. From reading countless interviews with the CEO - Torsten Reil - it was quite clear he was hoping a company like EA would snatch up the IP.

Still hoping someone comes up with something!

[Segagendude]

They'd sell more PC copies than WiiU.....

Imagine a fully customizable game on today's powerful pc's!!