Hate to be the bearer of bad news...

[crob8822]

Quote: Originally Posted by spectralfan

Okay, once again: EA is not preventing 2K from getting an NFL license, the NFL is. Think of it this way: EA cannot force the NFL to give them an exclusive but the NFL can sell or deny the license to anyone it chooses. THe NFL could even decide they're not selling videogame licenses anymore and we'd have no game at all. The point is, from a legal perspective, EA cannot be blamed for buying an exclusive license because the decision to go exclusive is ultimately the NFL's. So, because the decision to have an exclusive license is the NFL's, you cannot use the exclusive license as a legal argument to argue monopoly on the part of EA.

You know he is right, I forgot that not just that this was only a NFL agreement but they would have needed the NFLPA to sign with the deal
Besides the NFL Players Madden tournament during Superbowl week is a big draw for both the League and the players.
Sega will have to try and outbid EA when the agreement ends so if this is going to be a trend it will be sad for Video Sports Gamers and a huge win for the Companies and their share holders.

[sportsgeist]

Quote: Originally Posted by Superstar

See Midway has something 2K Sports does not... a good marketing team. Marketing killed 2k football, and until they fix it I see no reason to make a game when they will not market it properly and it will just turn into another financial failure.

2K's problem was Madden. People have been playing Madden for 10 years by time the first 2K game came out on the Dreamcast. Then it was another 3 years before they were even on the same consoles.

With a 10 year jump on 2K Madden didn't need that much marketing if any. IMO it had nothing to do with marketing. You don't need much marketing for a game that sells itself.

[grunt]

TT report last year didn't say anything about a table tennis game. So, leaveing out the football game this year shouldn't really be that big of a concern. I think we will have quite of few football games next gen.

[totalownership]

Quote: Originally Posted by crob8822

You know he is right, I forgot that not just that this was only a NFL agreement but they would have needed the NFLPA to sign with the deal Besides the NFL Players Madden tournament during Superbowl week is a big draw for both the League and the players. Sega will have to try and outbid EA when the agreement ends so if this is going to be a trend it will be sad for Video Sports Gamers and a huge win for the Companies and their share holders.

Yeah but EA didn't have to buy it. If EA and Take2 got together and came up with a "gentleman's" agreement they could have told the NFL to go to hell and keep it like it was.

[Dekan]

Quote: Originally Posted by totalownership

Yeah but EA didn't have to buy it. If EA and Take2 got together and came up with a "gentleman's" agreement they could have told the NFL to go to hell and keep it like it was.

Gentleman's agreement.....It's business they're out to make money.....It's not EA's job to look out for Take2's interests.

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by totalownership

Yeah but EA didn't have to buy it. If EA and Take2 got together and came up with a "gentleman's" agreement they could have told the NFL to go to hell and keep it like it was.

You're forgetting a few things:

-If neither had bid for the rights, you assume the NFL would have had to keep it the way it was but that's not true. The NFL could have simply sold it to someone else, such as Midway or even a company that never made NFL games before. Or the NFL could have said it's exclusive or nothing and not sold the license at all, thus leaving us with no game at all. In that case, both companies would have reverted to the bidding war within a year. But this argument is pointless since neither company was going to tell the NFL to go to Hell since their NFL games are/were their best revenue streams.

-You can be sure that if EA hadn't bought it, Take Two would have. They were outbid but you can bet they would have jumped at the opportunity to get an exclusive NFL license as it would have greatly increased their sales and profits. In fact, Take Two would have gained much more than EA from the exclusive license as EA already had a very high % of the market. Without a Madden game, most of the Madden fans that never tried 2K would have bought the new 2K game. In EA's case, all they could really gain was sales to 2K fans that weren't already buying Madden as well, which is a lot less.

[Erv]

Pretty sad if they don't even try 1 or 2 titles. It looks so bad when EA can churn out a new college IP in 8 months. I guess they could of dissolved the team if that's true that's a really poor way to go out by take-two.

[adriano]

Quote: Originally Posted by totalownership

Yeah but EA didn't have to buy it. If EA and Take2 got together and came up with a "gentleman's" agreement they could have told the NFL to go to hell and keep it like it was.

Ea wanted this.. They lobbied it for a long time.. they got nascar they got FIFA... the whole NFL wanted this propaganda, is EAs way of saying hey its not us the NFL wanted it..BS.. they have been trying to get the rights for years....They saw how much better 2k was getting each year...EA's offer got more interesting to the NFL when Espn made their games 19.99 ...The NFL Said Ok EA here you go do not make our Game 19.99.. the NFL didnt like their brand being marked down..also the amount of money EA offered was more than they would get from Midway, EA, And 2k combined... ..Its all about money.. its a guaranteed contract for the NFL.. Ea kills any momentum for 2k..

NBA was next, but the money they spent on the NFL was too much for even EA to swallow.. but the big money is in Football so they got their 800 lb gorilla