Fox News Corp. should buy 2k Sports and compete with EA in the sports sector.

[mvb34]

Quote: Originally Posted by swill43507

LOL,..I am not dreaming buddy,..You mean to tell me that if tomorrow, Pixar or let's say Dreamworks,..got into Football gaming and use their great financial resources and technology and made a photo realistic football game,.with natural motion physics and tight presentation that that wouldn't wouldn't shake up the market? Think again buddy.

Nope, not to the casual fan.. They'll need to see a Patroit helmet, a Colts uniform to get them in the door...

[spankdatazz22]

While I agree chances are extremely slim that EA would ever give up the exclusive license, I do wonder w/their lackluster efforts - NFL Tour being the latest - that there isn't at least a glimmer of hope the license changes next go round. It's been several years in and they really haven't taken advantage of any of exclusive licenses they have, at least not to the degree they said they would. And definitely not to the degree we'd have expected. Is there any real interest for them to do so?

Not saying the NFL would go to another exclusive partner; I'm not sure what the financials are as far as how this deal is working out for EA. But to my understanding, they way-overpaid to get exclusivity and their work product has taken steps backwards instead of forwards. Madden still sells partly on name, but it's obvious it's the license selling the game more than the name at this point - and people have grown more apathetic towards the game the past few years because of what it's become, not because the NFL has lost popularity. Perhaps they'd like to enter into a deal more like the one 2K has for baseball, where they have 3rd party exclusivity but only Nintendo, Sony (989), and Microsoft would be able to make games. It would lessen their financial burden (if they have one), they would be cutting out a prime competitor in 2K, and would lessen the scrutiny their football games get. At least in the public, because the gaming media still mostly rolls over for them.

As it is now, it would seem the licenses are cost-prohibitive for anyone else to take them up thus capping how much the NFL could demand from EA because there wouldn't be any other bidders to drive up the price. Since EA went out of their way to say they weren't signing an exclusive license for college basketball, I think public opinion is something they're aware of. And with Madden needing another MVP-like makeover (the move to next-gen was a makeover, just a horrible one), they'd still maintain a huge marketshare. Nintendo's not going to make a sim game certainly, 989 might but I'd think the game would be more NBA 08-like than MLB the Show-like, and Microsoft still doesn't have it's sports gaming division in place... although signing 2K could go a ways towards reconstituting it if such a deal were to pass.

[allBthere]

why is the NBA model out of the question?

would the NFL really believe that it would hurt THIER product to have multiple game companies? That's what they care about, is their own product and its growth, so I don't see why they would want to continue when they look at the exposure the NBA gets w/ it's multi-license.

I mean live is not a great b-ball game, but still has decent sales as far as i know, so why limit yourself.

On the flip side, I certainly don't see the NBA changing its model because it works very well.

So the question really is this; under what circumstances would one league benefit from multiple licenses to a greater extent that an exclusive, and another league benefit more from an exclusive rather than multiple licenses?

(i think the nfl would benefit more from multiple licenses - it would be more streams of revenue as well)

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

So the question really is this; under what circumstances would one league benefit from multiple licenses to a greater extent that an exclusive, and another league benefit more from an exclusive rather than multiple licenses?

It's simply a case of how much $ you can get for an exclusive VS how much you would get in total from multiple deals.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

why is the NBA model out of the question? would the NFL really believe that it would hurt THIER product to have multiple game companies? That's what they care about, is their own product and its growth, so I don't see why they would want to continue when they look at the exposure the NBA gets w/ it's multi-license.

EA is likely paying above and beyond what the NFL would've made if they were getting regular licensing fees from EA/2K/and whoever else. And let's face it, people aren't buying the games because Mai Tong the 7'4" center for the Houston Jets is in the game, they're buying it because it's the Houston Rockets and it's Yao Ming. Anymore than Coors, Cadillac, or Tostitos is bringing the NFL huge amounts of additional exposure. These companies sign exclusive deals because it benefits them - and if they didn't, there'd be another company waiting to take their place. They're paying the NFL, not vice versa. EA has the best distribution channels where they can bring the game out on multiple platforms, but it's not like they're giving the NFL exposure it doesn't already have.

[Russell_SCEA]

Quote:

Nope, not to the casual fan.. They'll need to see a Patroit helmet, a Colts uniform to get them in the door...

Bingo and remember the causal fans make up over 90% of the total sales for Madden. They aren't going to buy a generic game .