Why the NFL’s Labor Strife Might Be the Best Thing That Happened to Madden (Kotaku)

[TheCreep]

The only thing I'm salivating about now is the 30 million dollar break the NFL gave EA this year. Split it. Thats an extra 15 million towards development cost for Madden and NCAA. Lets see what we get this year.

[shyvoodoo]

Did I read that right???
EA paid 300 million for the license??
Whoa!!! Have they even made that back from the sales of Madden??

The author could be on to something here.. Could EA say to the NFL no one else is gonna pay you what we paid you and could get the next contract at a HUGE discount!!
Some one said that T2 met with the NFL already but wonder if the NFL told them the price tag and they said forget about it...

Sony already said they are going with a 10 YEAR SHELF LIFE with the PS3, which puts PS4 out by 2016, two years after the license ends(?).. Systems are getting better they are not taking a step backwards and the next consoles are gonna be just as expensive to develop for so what gives??... hell the PS3 hasnt even reached its full potential and we STILL have not seen a football game reach the potential that Baseball and Basketball has, so what would a next gen system do for a game?? EA cant even do THIS GEN right??

Other factors to think about:
1. Will Microsoft and Nintendo go with Blu Ray as their next gen medium?? If not then what?? It better be at least better or on par with Blu ray or gaming is gonna head for another crash because of stagnation and lack of innovation.. Video Games have maxed out the DVD media, are those companies more forward thinking now?? BUT if you gonna go with Blu Ray as the medium then SONY is gonna get paid, since they and a few other companies hold the patents to the tech.. Maybe Microsoft will resurrect HD-DVD?? Maybe not... Stay tuned..

I always considered Kotaku as an "entertainment" site so them showing up to the game in the 5th inning is not surprising...

[shyvoodoo]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheCreep

The only thing I'm salivating about now is the 30 million dollar break the NFL gave EA this year. Split it. Thats an extra 15 million towards development cost for Madden and NCAA. Lets see what we get this year.

Nothing. The teams would get bigger BONUSES this year.. Sorry.

ben
voodoo

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by shyvoodoo

Nothing. The teams would get bigger BONUSES this year.. Sorry. ben voodoo

Yeah, Creep. Sorry to burst your bubble, but EA's investment in Madden is the cash it shells out for the exclusive. They don't invest in the game much at all as the final product over the last 6 years has shown. Why would they? When you know you're the only game in town, it makes no sense from a business standpoint to push the envelope. That's why you are seeing all of the other sports games go far beyond what we've seen from Madden.

[dickey1331]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

Yeah, Creep. Sorry to burst your bubble, but EA's investment in Madden is the cash it shells out for the exclusive. They don't invest in the game much at all as the final product over the last 6 years has shown. Why would they? When you know you're the only game in town, it makes no sense from a business standpoint to push the envelope. That's why you are seeing all of the other sports games go far beyond what we've seen from Madden.

Completion doesn’t always make anything better. What about NBA Live/Elite? Gone. Or NHL 2K? 2011 version didn’t come out for PS3/Xbox 360. Most PS3 users buy The show or Xbox users buy a PS3 so they don’t have to play MLB 2K. Like I said competition doesn’t mean anything.

[mestevo]

Quote: Originally Posted by tazdevil20

Yeah, Creep. Sorry to burst your bubble, but EA's investment in Madden is the cash it shells out for the exclusive. They don't invest in the game much at all as the final product over the last 6 years has shown. Why would they? When you know you're the only game in town, it makes no sense from a business standpoint to push the envelope. That's why you are seeing all of the other sports games go far beyond what we've seen from Madden.

I am not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here? While the license is surely a significant portion of the overall cost of the game, you do realize that almost all of the play movement is derived from motion capture (I think this year they were able to build a 40yd dash in the studio for the new locomotion stuff?) rather than animators. You haven't seen any of the setups they put together at a couple of the big events to get player/coach photos/3d scans? Have you ever seen a Madden commercial? All of these things are just small parts of the many things that go into Madden... This is not a cheap or simple game to make or there would be many unlicensed games on the market competing.

I think the best point this article made that hasn't been covered in other threads here already is why this extension is so valuable to the NFL. Worst case there's no NFL next season. The value of the license is greatly diminished in the face of a post-lockout NFL world. It would be harder to demand as much either for an exclusive or non-exclusive license. This is a good point and I don't think it was brought up in the other thread about the extension.

Now worst case we miss or have a shortened season, things recover, and the NFL is likely in a stronger position than it would have been to command a renewal of it's current or similar licensing arrangement as long as EA is still willing to go along. As much speculation and wishful thinking to the contrary about them bowing out, I doubt they'll spare much expense to ensure they remain the lone official game of the NFL... would love to see a link or story that has anything substantiated that EA is wavering or would consider dropping it.

[shyvoodoo]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

I am not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here? While the license is surely a significant portion of the overall cost of the game, you do realize that almost all of the play movement is derived from motion capture (I think this year they were able to build a 40yd dash in the studio for the new locomotion stuff?) rather than animators. You haven't seen any of the setups they put together at a couple of the big events to get player/coach photos/3d scans? Have you ever seen a Madden commercial? All of these things are just small parts of the many things that go into Madden... This is not a cheap or simple game to make or there would be many unlicensed games on the market competing. I think the best point this article made that hasn't been covered in other threads here already is why this extension is so valuable to the NFL. Worst case there's no NFL next season. The value of the license is greatly diminished in the face of a post-lockout NFL world. It would be harder to demand as much either for an exclusive or non-exclusive license. This is a good point and I don't think it was brought up in the other thread about the extension. Now worst case we miss or have a shortened season, things recover, and the NFL is likely in a stronger position than it would have been to command a renewal of it's current or similar licensing arrangement as long as EA is still willing to go along. As much speculation and wishful thinking to the contrary about them bowing out, I doubt they'll spare much expense to ensure they remain the lone official game of the NFL... would love to see a link or story that has anything substantiated that EA is wavering or would consider dropping it.

I understand what you're saying but EA has budgets for that stuff already.. In 2010 they are JUST getting around to building a mo cap studio?? Mo cap has been around since the 90s so if anything they upgraded facilities..

I agree with most of your post but you have to wonder if EA is gonna start playing hardball with the NFL once this license ends. If the NFL values the Madden Brand so much so to call it pretty much a NFL property, EA could use that as leverage to get a much better deal EVEN going as far as to threaten not to make another Madden until they do..

OK I'm reaching here because thats like saying KFC threatening not to make anymore chicken if chicken prices dont come down BUT maybe EA KNOWS no one else in the industry has the cash to fork over for the license in the long run...

I'm a currency trader, and one thing that my trading mentor told me was "You concentrate on one market to learn your way around, but if you want to be successful, you have to diversify you trading portfolio." Some one in the Ivory towers of the NFL should have been smart enough to say "In order to maximize our profit margin in this area, we have to have two of "something"... More Revenue for the NFL plus you would most likely have two successful games, whats more, your getting money from two different parties..

If the NFL brass was really smart they could have gotten a lot more than 300 mill from the license just by granting one or two more?? Advertising, dev cost, print and tv.. all the devs responsibility.. They could have been getting money from Microsoft, EA, T2, even MORE money from SONY since they are one of their top 3 advertisers.. I don't understand why would you LIMIT you revenue growth because of a NAME OF A HEAD COACH??

Now I'm ramblin but one more thing, do you think the PLAYERS themselves are probably disappointed?? they play games too and you heard Lavar Arrington say earlier this week how much he misses NFL 2K.. Hopefully these labor talks would address all this.. stay tuned..

ben
voodoo

[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by dickey1331

Completion doesn’t always make anything better. What about NBA Live/Elite? Gone. Or NHL 2K? 2011 version didn’t come out for PS3/Xbox 360. Most PS3 users buy The show or Xbox users buy a PS3 so they don’t have to play MLB 2K. Like I said competition doesn’t mean anything.

Actually it does. The reason why you had games that came out and pushed the envelope as much as they did was because they were trying to ferociously out do their competing products. NHL, FIFA, NBA2k and The Show all pushed their games to the limit in order to take the market share from their competition.

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

I am not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here? While the license is surely a significant portion of the overall cost of the game, you do realize that almost all of the play movement is derived from motion capture (I think this year they were able to build a 40yd dash in the studio for the new locomotion stuff?) rather than animators. You haven't seen any of the setups they put together at a couple of the big events to get player/coach photos/3d scans? Have you ever seen a Madden commercial? All of these things are just small parts of the many things that go into Madden... This is not a cheap or simple game to make or there would be many unlicensed games on the market competing. I think the best point this article made that hasn't been covered in other threads here already is why this extension is so valuable to the NFL. Worst case there's no NFL next season. The value of the license is greatly diminished in the face of a post-lockout NFL world. It would be harder to demand as much either for an exclusive or non-exclusive license. This is a good point and I don't think it was brought up in the other thread about the extension. Now worst case we miss or have a shortened season, things recover, and the NFL is likely in a stronger position than it would have been to command a renewal of it's current or similar licensing arrangement as long as EA is still willing to go along. As much speculation and wishful thinking to the contrary about them bowing out, I doubt they'll spare much expense to ensure they remain the lone official game of the NFL... would love to see a link or story that has anything substantiated that EA is wavering or would consider dropping it.

No, I'm not being sarcastic. So you really think EA is going to SPEND more on the game now that they got a break from the NFL? The NFL exclusive is already putting a massive hole in EA's pocketbook. They are not going to change anything as to how they invest in it. Their mocap studio has been around for a long time. The team size is still the same, and they haven't changed their process.