Do you think No News is good news?

[BigBadB]

Alright, I've got the solution...

Do you refuse to buy a football game without official league licensing? Does any sports title you own have to have actual players in it? Do you require realistic 11 on 11 gameplay?

If you answered yes to any of these questions Take 2 and 2K Sports has the game for you... USFL '85! Featuring offical USFL team logos and uniforms, accurate team rosters as of the 1985 season, robust franchise mode, and retro soundtrack featuring Duran Duran, The Thompson Twins, The J. Giles Band, and Men At Work.

There problem solved.

[sportsgeist]

We really don't know how long VC/Take2 knew about all the football league licenses EA were going to tie up. VC could have been working on a college game then EA turned around and bought that. They could have been working on a CFL or AFL game and EA bought that while they were making them too who knows.

My current guess is VC is working on a Xbox360 launch football game. If they are they don't have to show anything at E3. They could also make 2K5 more customizable plus tweak it and slap a 2K6 sticker on it just to make some money. I would buy it.

[sportsgeist]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigBadB

Alright, I've got the solution... Do you refuse to buy a football game without official league licensing? Does any sports title you own have to have actual players in it? Do you require realistic 11 on 11 gameplay? If you answered yes to any of these questions Take 2 and 2K Sports has the game for you... USFL '85! Featuring offical USFL team logos and uniforms, accurate team rosters as of the 1985 season, robust franchise mode, and retro soundtrack featuring Duran Duran, The Thompson Twins, The J. Giles Band, and Men At Work. There problem solved.

I would use fictional teams from movies like Any Given Sunday, North Dallas Forty and The Last Boyscout. Or like you said buy the rights to the USFL and use those as well.

[wilk]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportsgeist

My current guess is VC is working on a Xbox360 launch football game.

I think it would be awesome if the game they show off the Xbox 360 on MTV on Thursday night would be the New 2k6 Pro Football Game. They need a game to demonstrate how awesome the new box is, it might as well be this one.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportsgeist

VC could have been working on a college game then EA turned around and bought that. They could have been working on a CFL or AFL game and EA bought that while they were making them too who knows.

NO on all of those.

[Radja]

Quote: Originally Posted by blackceasar

I dont think 2k's sales would "b!tch slap" Maddens. Take it from someone who has been working in the advertising and marketing industry for a while now as a creataive director. It's all about a magic word called "BRANDING" Now when I talk about branding I dont just mean a logo. Your logo is part of it but branding is also a feeling. EA has the better marketing team, coupled with the fact that thier brand has been out there for a loooong time. So you have brand loyalty just from the fact its been so big for so long and 2 its because EA's brand (not game) but brand itself speaks loud and clear and pulls the consumer in. Now branding is NOT effective when you are pitching a produçt to people like us because we dig deeper than the surface to get the best product. Branding is not as affective on us as it is to the general casual consumer/gamer. On top of that EA has the money to do alot of what we in the industry call "co-branding". You can see EA's stuff parntered up wtih other big names in products that also target the male 16-34 year old age range. Soft drinks, magazines (Maxim, SI, etc), and the list goes on. If you love you some Mountain Dew for whatever reason and you see some promo on thier bottle wtih EA sports and Madden thats just more of EA being in your face and now its affiliated with your favorite soft drink. No thå† alone isnt gonna make you want Madden, but maybe where EA had no "street cred" or whatever to make you think about them, the fact your favorite soft drink is saying "hey, EA is great"..and you think your fav soft drink is great so now some consumers will start to slowy start thinking EA is great too. Its like being cool by association. I might nø† be cool.. but if you see me rolling around town wtih Puff Daddy and Jay-Z for the next 6 months, im automatically cool wether you really know who the heck I am or not. EA has TONS of money to do this kind of marketing. Madden is to Football video games as what Jiff is to Peanut Butter, what Dell is to home computers now. Is Jiff really the best peanut butter? Maybe not. is Dell the best home computer you can buy? Maybe not but thier brands are out there so much for so long its reckognizable. Sure VC has commericals and magazine ad's to push thier own product (2k sports) but it still is small potatoes compared to what EA does and can and will do to get as much exposure to thier product to as many people as possible. EA has the pulse of the general consumer and casual gamer. It doesnt make Madden the best football game or even a GOOD football game but it will never get bitchslapped by Take Two's sports titles because EA has been absorbed into peoples brains for sooooo long. This is also why EA can afford to be lazy when it comes to innovating thier game. Wheras a company like Take Two has really nothing to sell thier product and to validate them in the idustry outside of MAKING A DARN GOOD FOOTBALL GAME. Boys and girls, marketing is POWERFUL. I have sat in what we call "focus groups" and I have conducted them myself inside many marketing firms. We have actually paid big money to bring psychologists in to help us understand what makes people tick. Why this product makes the consumer want it over its competitor. This is why you have endorsemnt deals. Lebron James can ink a 100 million dollar deal with Nike to sell shøes not because his shoe might be the best or not. Thats irrelevant. Its becuse people know Lebron, hes on fire, hes the number 1 attraction in the NBA. So Lebron holding up a certain shoe automatically in alot of consumers head validates that shoe as being good or great or the best. Lebron can get 100 million to wear a certain shoe Nike makes because Nike knows that the average consmer (which is 80% of consumers) doesnt look that hard into the product. lebron wears it, so its good, give me a pair please. If marketing didnt work (which is nothing more than ideas that get produced to get your mind thinking about buying THAT particular product) and if it didnt work this well and effectively...companies wouldnt give one man 100 million to wear his shoe. Where I work now, we just finished a campaign for a world wide known soft drink and they sunk 18 mllion dollars into our marketing ideas. Thats a nice chunk of money, they wont spend that kind øf money if it hasnt been proven that the marketing isng gonna produce a huge return for them. So at least right now it doesnt matter how much better 2k is over EA's sports games. Madden would have to flat out SUCK bigtime for 10 years in a row just to start making a change in whos got the leverage. cuz thier marketing is THAT powerful.

good post.

[LIGHTNING]

Quote: Originally Posted by Radja

good post.

EA is a "has" been company and they are on the way down IMO. Look at the stock, it has been smashed and this may only be the beginning. I have seen the same pattern where great companys rise and peak then fall. EA has risen for a long time and is near peak and ready for a big fall IMHO.

Companys, when small, have more freedom and inspiration to innovate and develop exciting products because they cannot rely on branding, but not all of course succeed in the market place. The key is a great product for a fast growing market and EA had this in the 1980s, 1990s and up to the present, but the video game industry after a HUGE run faces much slower growth going forward because the next generation of console sales will be much lower than the current generation IMHO.

EA also faces saturation in the football video game market and this is why they paid such a HUGE amount for the NFL and NFLPA. They either had to pay the NFL/NFLPA a huge sum of money or lose market share to Take Two . The exclusive license will buy EA some time but the reality of a near saturated video football game market will catch up with them. Another warning sign is that EA's management has been aggressive buying up smaller companys with great games because they cannot come up with better ideas. The big problem with branding in entertainment/leisure is that it inspires complacency and discourages change which may become necessary to maintain growth. This is becoming apparent with EA. Most companys that rely almost exclusively on branding with some exceptions eventually face trouble especially in entertainment/leisure. It would not surprise me if in ten years EA was the next Acclaim. It may seem very hard to believe, but big surprises do happen and more often than you might think.



Take Two probably will not make another football game. I think they will concentrate on the other sports. Hopefully they can survive and continue to make other sports games, but the future is not so bright.

[drae2]

Quote: Originally Posted by LIGHTNING

EA is a "has" been company and they are on the way down IMO. Look at the stock, it has been smashed and this may only be the beginning. I have seen the same pattern where great companys rise and peak then fall. EA has risen for a long time and is near peak and ready for a big fall IMHO. Companys, when small, have more freedom and inspiration to innovate and develop exciting products because they cannot rely on branding, but not all of course succeed in the market place. The key is a great product for a fast growing market and EA had this in the 1980s, 1990s and up to the present, but the video game industry after a HUGE run faces much slower growth going forward because the next generation of console sales will be much lower than the current generation IMHO. EA also faces saturation in the football video game market and this is why they paid such a HUGE amount for the NFL and NFLPA. They either had to pay the NFL/NFLPA a huge sum of money or lose market share to Take Two . The exclusive license will buy EA some time but the reality of a near saturated video football game market will catch up with them. Another warning sign is that EA's management has been aggressive buying up smaller companys with great games because they cannot come up with better ideas. The big problem with branding in entertainment/leisure is that it inspires complacency and discourages change which may become necessary to maintain growth. This is becoming apparent with EA. Most companys that rely almost exclusively on branding with some exceptions eventually face trouble especially in entertainment/leisure. It would not surprise me if in ten years EA was the next Acclaim. It may seem very hard to believe, but big surprises do happen and more often than you might think. Take Two probably will not make another football game. I think they will concentrate on the other sports. Hopefully they can survive and continue to make other sports games, but the future is not so bright.

Well only time will tell.