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Madden NFL 16 News Post


About 45 minutes ago, Peter Moore was talking shop with Geoff Keighley on the YouTube E3 stream and confirmed that EA and the NFL were still exclusive partners.

"So EA has the exclusivity on an NFL game?" Keighley asked.

"We do," Moore replied.

Keighley then pressed, "On all platforms?"

"On the NFL game, in our NFL agreement, in our NFLPA game agreement -- equally as important with the players -- uh yes...we do," Moore replied.

Moore was asked about a potential Joe Montana game and said it'd have to be unlicensed, saying he doesn't know what's going on there as he reads what everyone else reads on Twitter and in the news.

Moore finished the exchange after a bit more idle speculation with saying, "What you did see today was a spectacular Madden. I thought the team did a great job."

Most likely EA has the license locked up for a few years still, and there is zero reason to expect them to not renew when the time comes, just as they've likely done a few times prior as the current arrangement seems to be working for both parties it appears.

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Member Comments
# 41 roadman @ 06/16/15 09:06 AM
Gaming is a hobby in my life, an outlet, something to do to help me relax and unwind from the daily grind of life.

I am unhappy there isn't competition, but it's out of my hands, like the weather and other things in life.

If things are out of my control and hands, not much I can do about it.
 
# 42 TexasFan2005 @ 06/16/15 09:14 AM
Excuse my ignorance, but is the NFL deal with EA all about guaranteed money outside of the actual sales? Because I sure as heck know that if there were multiple NFL games released each year, A LOT of people would buy more than one of those games on a yearly basis. I guess I just fail to see how having just one NFL game on the market maximizes profits for the NFL on a yearly basis.

Also, if the NFL license were non-exclusive as it had been in long ago, wouldn't every NFL game developer also have to pay for the license to use in their own games?

All in all though, as disappointed I am in this latest news, I can't say I'm surprised by anything anymore. It seems like both the NFL and EA are getting the most out of their business decisions.
 
# 43 DeuceDouglas @ 06/16/15 09:22 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasFan2005
Excuse my ignorance, but is the NFL deal with EA all about guaranteed money outside of the actual sales? Because I sure as heck know that if there were multiple NFL games released each year, A LOT of people would buy more than one of those games on a yearly basis. I guess I just fail to see how having just one NFL game on the market maximizes profits for the NFL on a yearly basis.

Also, if the NFL license were non-exclusive as it had been in long ago, wouldn't every NFL game developer also have to pay for the license to use in their own games?

All in all though, as disappointed I am in this latest news, I can't say I'm surprised by anything anymore. It seems like both the NFL and EA are getting the most out of their business decisions.
I'd say it's all about the money. And not just with EA either. At a certain point I think the NFL realized that these corporations were more than willing to just throw absolutely absurd amounts of money basically for the tagline "Official [product] of the NFL".
 
# 44 roadman @ 06/16/15 09:22 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasFan2005
Excuse my ignorance, but is the NFL deal with EA all about guaranteed money outside of the actual sales? Because I sure as heck know that if there were multiple NFL games released each year, A LOT of people would buy more than one of those games on a yearly basis. I guess I just fail to see how having just one NFL game on the market maximizes profits for the NFL on a yearly basis.

Also, if the NFL license were non-exclusive as it had been in long ago, wouldn't every NFL game developer also have to pay for the license to use in their own games?

All in all though, as disappointed I am in this latest news, I can't say I'm surprised by anything anymore. It seems like both the NFL and EA are getting the most out of their business decisions.
Yes it is.

Just an FYI, this has been brought up every time the license is brought up.

A former EA employee who worked on the MVP series and still post here, Dr. Jones, said that the NFL made more money with one company with an exclusive vs the 4 or 5 games that were out at the time altogether.
 
# 45 bxphenom7 @ 06/16/15 09:50 AM
No surprise there. Doesn't matter, just give me some JM 16 news and show that it plays and moves better than madden, and it it's fully featured.
 
# 46 Cardot @ 06/16/15 10:34 AM
I understand EA's business strategy...but for the actual developers, I wonder if they secretly wish the license wasn't exclusive?? Just from a competitive standpoint.
 
# 47 xman2k @ 06/16/15 11:17 AM
I'm mad at EA because they brought up the idea and overpaid because they felt threatened instead of paying low and competing. Also damon grow or whoever should have been straight up from the beginning because now I'm mad and am not buying this title either just for the fact of lack of clear info. Had he been straight up and not so cryptic I would have been interested and bought at launch just for something fresh. I'll wait for a steam sale
 
# 48 aholbert32 @ 06/16/15 11:27 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardot
I understand EA's business strategy...but for the actual developers, I wonder if they secretly wish the license wasn't exclusive?? Just from a competitive standpoint.
Why? I dont know about you but most people love job security. I work for a TV network. From a personal view, I'd hate if my network was the only network on TV but from a professional standpoint....I'd love it. No worries about ratings or whether my network is successful or not. I'm sure EA employees feel the same way.
 
# 49 Cardot @ 06/16/15 12:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by aholbert32
WFrom a personal view, I'd hate if my network was the only network on TV but from a professional standpoint....I'd love it.
Right....that is what I meant (just poorly worded). The job security is nice. But at least part of them must wish they had the chance to go toe to toe with a competitor, and really put their work to the test.
 
# 50 PVarck31 @ 06/16/15 01:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jet Sufferer
I take the opposite approach, EVERYONE should be mad that we can only get one official NFL football game, especially one that has languished in sub-mediocrity for my tastes since the start of the 360 generation.

Imagine a world where NBA basketball fans were forced to play 11 years of iterations of the current NBA Live franchise and NBA 2K games were only a fantasy. That's a pretty horrible world in my book, and sim football gamers have been living in that nightmare for over a decade.

No one ever thought that the USSR would fall, and not everyone accepted it, perhaps the new Montana game will strike a chord with gamers and eventually lead to getting itself the NFL license.

I can always hope that the license will be open again, if history shows us anything, it's that anything can happen.
I'm not saying you should be happy with exclusivity. I'm just saying people should know by now that it's not gonna change. The NFL will give EA the chance to retain it every time its up and they will. This is why I say nothing will change and we shouldn't be surprised by it.

In my opinion, the exclusive deal will remain in place until console gaming is no longer.

Every year someone comes here or there and says another NFL game is coming and people get so excited, only to be let down every year. So I choose to no longer believe anything will change.
 
# 51 SolidSquid @ 06/16/15 02:06 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by GiantBlue76
If you read the Pecover lawsuit documents, you will see some emails that were sent by Tiburon employees to execs asking that they NOT renew in 2009. Some employees felt that they were at their best in a competitive market and they also didn't care for a lot of the negativity related to the exclusive license. I guess it would depend on who you asked there. Some people were probably indifferent, others felt the product was better when the market was competitive. Either way it doesn't matter. Everyone had to know that once this was secured EA would NEVER relinquish this. People need to face the fact that there will never, ever be another NFL game other than Madden again. The NFL loves this relationship and so does the NFLPA.
This kinda cements my idea that it's the suits not the devs who develop madden. Sure the devs make the game but it's the suits that say don't innovate and spend the least amount of resources possible to keep the profit margin wide. Personally and professionally I have pride in my work and am competitive but like someone above said the job security must be nice. Imagine what happened to the live team after 2k dethroned them leading up to the eventual cancellation of NBA Elite.
 
# 52 SageInfinite @ 06/16/15 02:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolidSquid
This kinda cements my idea that it's the suits not the devs who develop madden. Sure the devs make the game but it's the suits that say don't innovate and spend the least amount of resources possible to keep the profit margin wide. Personally and professionally I have pride in my work and am competitive but like someone above said the job security must be nice. Imagine what happened to the live team after 2k dethroned them leading up to the eventual cancellation of NBA Elite.
I believe it's a combination of both. While the suits probably do dictate what does on into the game, the devs design and implement it in ways that aren't realistic or favor realism. The suits can't be blamed for that.

Now this team might be trying to right all those wrongs, and it will take awhile to unravel some of the mess, so we'll see how it turns out.
 
# 53 SolidSquid @ 06/16/15 02:30 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SageInfinite
I believe it's a combination of both. While the suits probably do dictate what does on into the game, the devs design and implement it in ways that aren't realistic or favor realism. The suits can't be blamed for that.

Now this team might be trying to right all those wrongs, and it will take awhile to unravel some of the mess, so we'll see how it turns out.
That's a fair point. The problem I see if the dev team being changed before they get a chance to fix everything. I honestly thought Ian was gonna be the guy to bring the sim crowd what we wanted but was shown the door too soon.
 
# 54 roadman @ 06/16/15 02:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolidSquid
That's a fair point. The problem I see if the dev team being changed before they get a chance to fix everything. I honestly thought Ian was gonna be the guy to bring the sim crowd what we wanted but was shown the door too soon.
Ian left on his own accord.

There is a lot of turnover in the software business.
 
# 55 SageInfinite @ 06/16/15 02:51 PM
I've never personally been mad at this exclusive deal, yeah it sucks to not have options, but if the game was so good I didn't need any I wouldn't care.

I'm more upset at EA and Tiburon for dragging its feet with the series. I couldn't care less about 2k football at this point. I just want Tiburon to make me forget 2k football ever existed. They haven't come close to doing that yet.
 
# 56 SolidSquid @ 06/16/15 02:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadman
Ian left on his own accord.

There is a lot of turnover in the software business.
Any chance he left bc he was being handcuffed from the guys upstairs?
 
# 57 aholbert32 @ 06/16/15 03:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolidSquid
That's a fair point. The problem I see if the dev team being changed before they get a chance to fix everything. I honestly thought Ian was gonna be the guy to bring the sim crowd what we wanted but was shown the door too soon.
Couple of things:

I believe Ian and a couple of other people from the team left on their own to start up their own company. Could be wrong though.

This whole suits/devs thing is simplifying it a bit. The suits (EA board of directors/Executives/Shareholders) saw a great business opportunity and they took it. In one swoop, the solidified their relationship with the biggest brand in American professional sports, boxed out their biggest rival and guaranteed that their game will be produced for years. Thats a great business move given the nation's demand for NFL football.

With that said, all they care about are sales. Sales among other things are what affects the stock price and thats their greatest concern. So their directive to the devs is simple.....create a game that will consistently increase sales.

If thats your directive, you would say to yourself "Who should I market the game to so that I can increase sales?" Now there are two views on this question here at OS:

1) Sim sells everywhere. Many believe that casual fans are just as interested in sim features as sim fans. If the features are implemented right, people will buy the game no matter if they are a casual fan or not. They use games like the Show and 2k as proof that people of all interest levels will buy a sim game.

2) Casual fans arent interested in complicated features or the majority of features sim fans are interested in. They could care less about things like draft boards in CCM or Formation Subs or Defensive Assignments. They just want to play Ultimate Team, play online and have fun. They have no real interest in depth. Also, Sim fans will buy Madden no matter what because they need a football fix. If you throw them a bone or two, they will still give EA their money.

Now, all of us would love if the devs took approach #1 but sometimes I wonder if this is realistic. EA has its own research department that surveys what Madden fans want and gives them guidance on what players want. I'm sure (based on the type of features they've added the last 10 years) that their research shows them that many of the sim features that we want and love are lower on the ladder than alot of modes/features we consider useless.

So think about if you were a dev: Lets say your boss says "I want this game to make money and I believe you should work with our research department to determine the best way to create and market the project"

What approach would you take? Approach 1 means that you are ignoring your boss' orders. It may work but if it doesnt you have to explain why you ignored his order. You probably lose your job because of it.

Approach 2 may not be the best approach but its the approach with cover. If things fail, you can always say "We did exactly what the research said and it failed so lets try something different."

In my opinion, Madden's dev team tried Approach 2. For 8 years, they created and marketed a game for casual fans with no regard for sim fans. The last two years, they have reversed course a little and sold their current approach to the suits. Now they havent reversed course quickly enough for me or many of us but it is clear that they are finally taking steps to bring this game closer to a simulation.


Sorry for the long post.
 
# 58 aholbert32 @ 06/16/15 03:04 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolidSquid
Any chance he left bc he was being handcuffed from the guys upstairs?
Doubtful. Ian was never some "sim" crusader. If anything during his time with Madden he realized that the sim community is hard to please. The OS community ran him off the forums a number of times.
 
# 59 bkrich83 @ 06/16/15 03:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboy_kmoney
The NFL or better yet Roger Fakedell needs to get off this Greed trip and run this League the way its needs to b ran. At this point The Makers of Madden is just putting out anything and getting away with it. John Maddens Name is on this thing and its being dragged through the mud. Wow this really has gone to far.

The league is making more money than it ever has. Roger Goodell is doing his job very well in the eyes of the owners.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
# 60 redsox4evur @ 06/16/15 03:21 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by aholbert32
Sorry for the long post.
I think it's more like number 2, the casual fans don't care about draft boards, formation subs, etc. And maybe even the custom draft features. They know from their sales numbers that the casual fans will come out and buy the game just to get their football gaming fix. And with the exclusive license the sim crowd have to get the game if they want their NFL gaming fix. Also if I was a suit for EA, I would take approach 2 because the number of casual fans dwarfs the number of sim fans.
 


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