Madden 12 News Post

EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

06:10 PM - February 14, 2011 by RaychelSnr

The Sports Business Journal is reporting that the NFL and EA have come to terms on extending the current exclusive deal one more year with the uncertainty surrounding the 2011 NFL Season.

Quote:


	"The NFL has restructured its lucrative licensing and sponsorship contract with Electronic Arts to account for the sport�s uncertain future, significantly reducing the video game maker�s contractual obligations next season but adding a year to the deal, according to several well-placed sources. The contract now runs through 2013. The league is believed to have so far rebuffed pleas for fee reductions from other licensees and sponsors, many of which, like EA, find it difficult planning for the next season under the threat of a work stoppage. The league�s collective-bargaining agreement with the players expires March 4, and the two sides are far apart on reaching a deal. EA, however, is a special case, with its iconic �Madden� video game title. The licensing deal it agreed to with the league in early 2008 is believed to be worth well into nine figures in guarantees and royalties over its original five-year term. That stands as one of the most, if not the most lucrative non-TV contract the NFL enjoys. The NFL Players Association, which signed a companion EA deal for rights to the players, reaps regularly between $30 million and $40 million annually, according to the union�s annual filings with the Labor Department. The league deal allows EA to use team colors, names and logos."

This basically means that EA has exclusive rights to Madden now until after Madden NFL 14 -- or roughly right about the time the next generation of consoles are set to hit.

This just shows how strong of business partners the NFL and EA Sports are at this point. The NFL is giving EA a break on payments this year and has basically given them an additional year as a make-up of sorts to make right. Also, if you read my 2011 Predictions Post back in January, you saw this was my first prediction, that the deal would be extended in some way this year.

So in that respect, this news is not unexpected -- and with the deal stretching into the next console generation, I have serious doubts any other company is going to be in a position enter the market anytime soon due to the extreme cost of entry into quality sports game development that will be present at that time.

Thanks to Pasta Padre for the news tip.

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Member Comments

# 341 roadman @ 02/17/11 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	That's easy enough to understand. Back in the day, there were people who wouldn't even try 2k football because they were so loyal to Madden. The $19.99 price tag changed that -- to the tune of where Madden went from outselling 2k football 10-1 down to 2-1, if my memory serves. If 2k football continued another year, 2k might've even outsold Madden -- we'll never know, because the exclusive was signed and that was it.

So, therefore, the price cut is what helped close the gap. Before that, the masses were not divided.

# 342 coogrfan @ 02/17/11 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	That's easy enough to understand. Back in the day, there were people who wouldn't even try 2k football because they were so loyal to Madden. The $19.99 price tag changed that -- to the tune of where Madden went from outselling 2k football 10-1 down to 2-1, if my memory serves. If 2k football continued another year, 2k might've even outsold Madden -- we'll never know, because the exclusive was signed and that was it.

Pure speculation. It's just as likely that when 2k returned to a $49.99 price point for NFL 2k6, sales would have dipped back to the 300-500,000 unit level of NFL 2k2-2k4.

As you said, we'll never know.

# 343 roadman @ 02/17/11 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	I'm not even really sure what you're talking about at this point...sorry.

You quoted me from a different poster that I quoted.

Sorry, not about to go into explanations, you'll need to back track if you want to know what we were discussing.

# 344 kjcheezhead @ 02/17/11 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgiles36


	Tomato - tomata. His point still holds weight. Madden itself is profitable even with the exclusive license. I know that the previous generation of Madden's offered a layer of depth that is still unmatched on the PS3/360. But beyond that, I'm still shocked at how much praise those games get. I recall a few years ago that the biggest gripe with Madden was the line play. There was never a pocket -- just a wall of linemen doing the shuffle. This was a big-big-big issue, or at least it was portrayed to be in several forums. Now the line play is better than it has ever been in Madden IMO, yet there is a faction of folks who'll prefer to play the prev gen Madden with the abysmal line play. Without straying too far off topic, I guess my point is that if realism is what people clamor for in Madden (and they do), how can people enjoy the previous Maddens so much? I think that the current Maddens from a gameplay standpoint are arguably more realistic than the previous gen editions. That doesn't mean today's game is more fun or more balanced -- just talking in terms of realism. Not at all challenging you KJ, just making a point.

Take a look at Madden 10s line play. Guards stand in place and spin 360 on toss plays. There is no real pocket in that game either. There is also a catch, with improved line play comes the terrible pro-tak system that animates like a goofy group hug and then has scat backs break out of the animation by having difends slinde down and off like the rb is covered in vasoline. So you fixed your big-big problem of line play and traded it in for ridiculous tackling, and that makes ps2 version unplayable?

Ps2 has had great sideline catches for years, Madden 11 finally got it. Ps2 has a playbook editor, play creator, allows you to creat sub packages before the game, allows individual press coverage, has formation shifts, user controlled celebrations,in game saves, has more organic commentary, better running and tackling animations.

Madden 11's major feature to counter all this is gameflow and rewinds which allows for the cpu to pick plays and do overs if I feel cheated.

Now ps2 not only has deeper modes across the boards, it also has fantasy challenge/ tournament modes, historic rosters, madden challenges and madden cards that are missing from current gen all together. Finally, even with all that it's always been priced at $20 less.

Not trying to offend you, but claiming the improvements to line play outweigh all the positives I just posted and that ps2 madden fans play for nostalgia is just ridiculous to me.

# 345 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adfletch71


	well ryan, from 2006-2011, what do u think EA has done for its customer, even the 2K customers that lost there game in O6? Nothing really, because presentation hasn't gotten too 2K5 levels yet and Madden still can't compete with ALLPRO2k8 gameplay yet, so u tell me?

Ok based on this statement , I will say maybe EA doesn't listen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquorLogic


	We, the customers, don't have voices; we have wallets. Slowly but surely, those wallets closing.

Ok, I will accept this as true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Only1LT


	I could better answer your question if I knew, in what context, you are asking this question. Is this a direct response to a particular post?

See the two posts above...but no when I wrote that I was just being general, LT.

If EA doesn't care , why bitch? Just don't buy the game and be done with it. Most people offer criticism in the hope of a better product. If you assume EA doesn't listen you MUST also assume they aren't listening to you. It's a logical fallacy to do otherwise... and therefore a waste of time to come here.

"Exercise our power and don't buy the game." There's no need to for that though...if people don't like a game, or it's not as good people want, they won't buy it. My guess is it's already happening with people who don't like it... so what you're really saying is "people who like it still shouldn't buy it." It's like certain people are simply INCAPABLE of grasping that they're in the minority...and how little power they have. I don't think Madden is GOAT, but I would NEVER tell someone who likes a product not to buy it.

I just hate the rhetoric. EA doesn't listen, let's make a noise in the forest where nobody's around to hear.

# 346 coogrfan @ 02/17/11 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	If you honestly believe that NFL2k11 would've only sold 300-500,000 units, while M11 stayed at 5 million, who am I to say you're wrong.

What I believe is this: the only time the NFL/APF 2k franchise sold over a million units in a given year was when it was priced at less than 20 dollars. We can debate the whys and wherefores of that ad naseum, but that doesn't make it any less true.

The assumption made by the majority of the 2k fans that in time TT/VC would have been able to maintain a steady increase in it's percentage of marketshare without a bargain price point is an act of pure faith: there is no way to prove or disprove such a statement.

# 347 boom.h @ 02/17/11 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	Exactly. I agree with your point above. My point: It's still profitable. It's still an alright game, even after I was really enamored after patch 5, the Show will take it RIGHT out of my system, and maybe MLB2k11. bottom line is it doesn't matter. EA will be making NFL football for years to come. What's 5 million times 60? 300 million dollars. I doubt anyone on the dev team makes more than 500k. The license is what? 76 mill? That's still mill of profit. If publishing costs , dev costs and shipping costs, etc. total $100 million dollars, there's still $123 million of profit.

You're actually wrong. EA doesn't make the full $60 on each copy. They make between $30-$40. You didn't factor in the retailer's piece, among other things.

# 348 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boom.h


	You're actually wrong. EA doesn't make the full $60 on each copy. They make between $30-$40. You didn't factor in the retailer's piece, among other things.

Ok that's true. So 5 mil x $40= $200 mil - $76 mil lice= $124 mil. So does publishing and distribution and developing and marketing cost $124 mil? Because if it costs $.01 less than that , Madden is profitable

# 349 kjcheezhead @ 02/17/11 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Only1LT


	I've wondered this myself many times. The only answers I can come up with is either people really care more about the extra modes than gameplay, or pure nostalgia. As much as I critique Madden 11, I would say that it is probably the best Madden game ever, in terms of gameplay. How anyone can think that PS2 Madden is better, in terms of gameplay, is beyond me. I don't know. Maybe I'm in the Twilight Zone or something, but as a savvy gamer who's seen a couple decades of gaming evolution, it's hard to look back, critically, and say that Madden was ever a great depiction of the game of Football. It's had the same issues since the very first Madden on consoles. Having said that, almost none of the issues of the past iterations have been eliminated, but some of them have been at least lessened in subsequent years, so by default, the gameplay is better than it's ever been. For what ever that's worth.

I disagree. Almost every problem the past games had is still there or worse. For example, both games have had defenders running routes before wr's. However, ps2 has individual press coverage and wr shading. So if I shade a wr to the inside and he runs an out route, he will get seperation. The current version I just have to pray the cpu plays good defense for me without any input.

So which game has better gameplay for pass defense? The one where the cpu makes all the decisions or the one where the gamer is allowed to have input on how his secondary plays?

# 350 boom.h @ 02/17/11 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	Ok that's true. So 5 mil x $40= $200 mil - $76 mil lice= $124 mil. So does publishing and distribution and developing and marketing cost $124 mil? Because if it costs $.01 less than that , Madden is profitable

What we do know is that 2/3 - 3/4 of Madden's Budget is spent on Marketing. With how slowly Madden has progressed over the years, there's something wrong with this picture, IMO.

http://www.bluesnews.com/s/101634/ea...-game_s-budget

# 351 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:34 PM

Once a retailer buys inventory, it's the retailer's to price how they wish.

# 352 RGiles36 @ 02/17/11 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	*Take a look at Madden 10s line play.* Guards stand in place and spin 360 on toss plays. There is no real pocket in that game either. There is also a catch, with improved line play comes the terrible pro-tak system that animates like a goofy group hug and then has scat backs break out of the animation by having difends slinde down and off like the rb is covered in vasoline. So you fixed your big-big problem of line play and traded it in for ridiculous tackling, and that makes ps2 version unplayable? *Ps2 has had great sideline catches for years, Madden 11 finally got it. Ps2 has a playbook editor, play creator, allows you to creat sub packages before the game, allows individual press coverage, has formation shifts, user controlled celebrations,in game saves, has more organic commentary, better running and tackling animations. Madden 11's major feature to counter all this is gameflow and rewinds which allows for the cpu to pick plays and do overs if I feel cheated. Not trying to offend you*, but claiming the improvements to line play outweigh all the positives I just posted and that ps2 madden fans play for nostalgia is just ridiculous to me.

No offense taken

...

Even w/ the shaky line play of M10, I'd still venture to say it was better than anything the PS2 Maddens produced. Fast forward to M11, the line play was vastly improved. The run-blocking, while it's not perfect, is the best that Madden has ever offered (best ever in a football game for my money). And in pass-blocking scenarios, the tackles actually get a little depth which allows the QB to actually step up in the pocket.

For what it's worth, the slippery-pig group tackle animation rarely happens in M11. I've personally have seen it no more than 5X. As far as PS2 sideline catching -- heh, I didn't think it was anything to write home about. Clearly just my opinion though. You think the tackling was better last generation?

My point remains the same: the gameplay now is better than it ever has been. The previous generation offers a level of depth that has been unmatched, and I acknowledged that in my previous post. But when it comes to gameplay, I'm not sure how one can go from what we have now to the PS2.

# 353 mestevo @ 02/17/11 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	I posted this a few pages back, and it's still true. EA was basically giving Madden away this year to even get to 5 million: "I don't think anywhere close to 5 million people paid $60 for M11. One million of those sales were on PSP/PS2/Wii, first of all. Secondly, there were all kinds of discounted pre-orders this year, and everybody was selling it at $29.99 pretty much from Thanksgiving until Christmas."

Some of these kinds of things can be tracked btw.

http://camelcamelcamel.com/Madden-NF...uct/B002I0JB6E

Was never $30 on Amazon, any time it was close to that low it was a sale, and those are retailer specific, just like the initial sales on launch that people tried to say were EA reducing the price because of poor pre-orders (there was an official OS blog about this). When a publisher reduces the price you can see it done uniformly everywhere.

EA hasn't ever lowered the price of Madden to $30, retailers did, there's a difference.

# 354 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:42 PM

rgiles I'd rather have depth. It keeps it replayable. I'm not a sim-head. Too sim is boring...really I want a good OL and a bad DL to play like it, I want deep customizable playbooks, I want QB's to act different...and WR and TE to not cheese w/stuff like the rocket catch.

And even in m11, instead of just getting beat on a block the blockers just run to the wrong guy, like the FB ignoring the DL in front of him to block a LB. Is it the best in Madden, probably. The best we've seen? Not in my view.

I know I'm playing a video game and I'm ok with that. But it better be fun.

# 355 mestevo @ 02/17/11 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	Who cares? It's still less $ in EA's pocket (see my above post).

Now you're backpeddaling from your original point of EA making less money. The inventory is purchased, it's the retailers sacrificing margin and then some to get you to buy from them (typically to either get you in the store and/or with the expectation of you buying more than just that item).

Retail 101.

# 356 mestevo @ 02/17/11 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	rgiles I'd rather have depth. It keeps it replayable. I'm not a sim-head. Too sim is boring...really I want a good OL and a bad DL to play like it, I want deep customizable playbooks, I want QB's to act different...and WR and TE to not cheese w/stuff like the rocket catch. And even in m11, instead of just getting beat on a block the blockers just run to the wrong guy, like the FB ignoring the DL in front of him to block a LB. Is it the best in Madden, probably. The best we've seen? Not in my view. I know I'm playing a video game and I'm ok with that. But it better be fun.

For some reason I have the impression NCAA11 is the best I've seen, maybe because the game is a bit slower?

# 357 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddieV


	I don't think that's true -- that's why you hear these guys talk about "sell-in" numbers, which only means shipped to retailers. Look at EA's most recent financials, where they talk about maintaining a HUGE reserve for EA Active 2 due to its underperforming sales. If it was true that a retailer could price how they wish, there wouldn't be any need for EA to account for reserves (i.e., unsold units).

If I buy something from you, it's mine- you can't tell me what to sell it for. EA has to account for unsold units, because they are games they published that a retailer hasn't bought yet, and still in EA's inventory. Once a game jumps on the truck from EA to Gamestop, it's sold. Gamestop can sell it a loss, sell it at cost, or sell it at a high or low margin...until Gamestop sells out, they will not be ordering more from EA .

# 358 Only1LT @ 02/17/11 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan36


	Ok based on this statement , I will say maybe EA doesn't listen. Ok, I will accept this as true. See the two posts above...but no when I wrote that I was just being general, LT. If EA doesn't care , why bitch? Just don't buy the game and be done with it. Most people offer criticism in the hope of a better product. If you assume EA doesn't listen you MUST also assume they aren't listening to you. It's a logical fallacy to do otherwise... and therefore a waste of time to come here. "Exercise our power and don't buy the game." There's no need to for that though...if people don't like a game, or it's not as good people want, they won't buy it. My guess is it's already happening with people who don't like it... so what you're really saying is "people who like it still shouldn't buy it." It's like certain people are simply INCAPABLE of grasping that they're in the minority...and how little power they have. I don't think Madden is GOAT, but I would NEVER tell someone who likes a product not to buy it. I just hate the rhetoric. EA doesn't listen, let's make a noise in the forest where nobody's around to hear.

I hear what you are saying, but if you listen to people, not just on the forums, but everywhere, there are definitely people that buy the game, every year, and who aren't really happy with it. We can debate whether these people need psychiatric care or not, but by their own admission, this is the case.

And for the record, none of these companies really listen. The devs have their idea of how they want their game to play. Most game devs are gamers themselves, and have their own idea of what a kickass game is. They are also open to SOME feedback on SOME of their ideas, provided they are in line with their own thinking of how the game should be developed in the first place. In a sense, they don't take feedback as much as they give you options of ideas that they have already themselves thought of and decided on a different one. Not to say that they don't do something that they never planned based on consumer feedback, but again, it would have to fall under either something that is cosmetic, inconsequential, and easy to implement, or that doesn't go against their original vision.

The suits? They have two motivations. Motivation number one is how much money they want to spend. Motivation number two is, subsequently, how much they want to make. They are open to giving the devs as much latitude as they want in developing the game, right up until the point where it infringes upon motivation number one or two.

Out of those two some what oppositional objectives, comes a game that some love, some hate, and many other opinions spanning the gamut of what is in between. But no where in there is anyone, really, truly, listening.

Companies "listening" does not happen in the really, real world.

# 359 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	For some reason I have the impression NCAA11 is the best I've seen, maybe because the game is a bit slower?

Well I only played post patch/tuner NCAA before I traded it in...I gotta tell you, I didn't think it was that much better. Running any spread option play didn't work, which ruined the college FB experience for me...esp. the broken read option, which is like the most fun ever.

# 360 ryan36 @ 02/17/11 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Only1LT


	I hear what you are saying, but if you listen to people, not just on the forums, but everywhere, there are definitely people that buy the game, every year, and who aren't really happy with it. We can debate whether these people need psychiatric care or not, but by their own admission, this is the case. And for the record, none of these companies really listen. The devs have their idea of how they want their game to play. Most game devs are gamers themselves, and have their own idea of what a kickass game is. They are also open to SOME feedback on SOME of their ideas, provided they are in line with their own thinking of how the game should be developed in the first. In a sense, they don't take feedback as much as they give you options of ideas that they have already themselves thought of and decided on a different one. Not to say that they don't do something that they never planned based on consumer feedback, but again, it would have to fall under either something that is cosmetic, inconsequential, and easy to implement, or that doesn't go against their original vision. The suits? They have two motivations. Motivation number one is how much money they want to spend. Motivation number two is, subsequently, how much they want to make. They are open to giving the devs as much latitude as they want in developing the game, right up until the point where it poses a infringes upon motivation number one or two. Out of those two some what oppositional objectives, comes a game that some love, some hate, and many other opinions spanning the gamut of what is in between. But no where in there is anyone, really, truly, listening. Companies "listening" does not happen in the really, real world.

I'd say the Dev Team listens. Ian wanted to make a new game from scratch, they said no. So it's a level higher than Ian that has this issue.

But if LT, as you say, your input doesn't matter, why waste your time giving it?

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