The real reason the NFL wants competing NFL titles & why NFL 2K will go sim in 2022.

[tsbmolina]

“Expanding the NFL’s presence in the world of gaming has become a focus for the League as we look to grow the next generation of our fan base and reviving our partnership with 2K was a natural step in that effort,” NFL senior vice president of consumer products Joe Ruggiero said. “2K is a worldwide leader in sports video games, with a proven track record of creating best-in-class and award-winning games, and we look forward to sharing more about the projects we are working on with them in the future.”

That was the quote by the NFL senior vice president of consumer products Joe Ruggiero. Very telling when you consider the NFL and EA have made a ton of money off of the exclusive license but have done little to expand the the audience, particularly the young audience who grow up to watch the real game as adults.

I wrote this 2 years ago, "The exclusive license will be the death of the NFL videogame market for growth." With the negative publicity that concussions have had on the sport, parents are keeping there children away from youth football because of the dangers inherit in football. In the process it's potentially stunting the growth of said youth playing or following the sport. The NFL needs 2K Sports and the exposure it would give them. A fan of the videogaming sport will grow up to be a viewer of the said sport. All you have to do is look at what the NBA 2K franchise has done for basketball. It has made kids who grow up to be adults, fans of the sport and the popularity has never been more high for the NBA as a whole. At this point it's the NFL's loss not 2K Sports if the NFL continues with there exclusive license.

Fast forward to the present and read the quote highlighted in red. The NFL has finally come to it's senses and have come to the realization that you can't put a price tag on exposure to the sport and building a future fan base by getting as many hands on an NFL licensed football game as possible. While they made tons of money off of the exclusive license, 20/20 hindsight it came at the high cost of loosing future viewers of the sport for not being able to expand the young demographic inherit in the video gaming audience. That is of high value which you can't put a price tag on.

If you followed the rise of the NBA 2K series from 2009 until now you would see the huge following it has built over the past 11 years. It has gone from selling 2 million units in 2009 to over 12 million in 2019, while Madden has gone from selling 5 million units in 2009 to 8 million in 2019. That's +10 million in 11 years for NBA2K, where as it's only +3 million for Madden in the same time-frame. Imagine what 2K can do for expanding the NFL audience if NBA 2K is anything to go by. NBA 2K went from a distant second in the sports arena to surpassing the king of American sports Madden, by a significant number. With that being said, it's no wonder the NFL sees value in bringing 2K back into the football gaming fold. 2K will expand the audience which in turn will expand the future viewers of the sport. The NFL gains valuable dollars from selling 2 licenses for whatever there asking price is regardless if EA thinks its fair or not. Do you really think EA is going to balk at whatever the NFL's asking price is and risk loosing there cash cow annual tent pole title. It's a win, win for the NFL. More money selling the license for a set asking price to multiple developers and in doing so expanding there audience exponentially. The football video gaming future looks bright for the NFL and it's Audience indeed! To bad it took 15 years for them to figure out what I could have told them long ago.

[Drayzon2020]

Great post! I look forward to the future of 2k football, especially if/when they get back into NCAA football.

[illwill10]

I agree.
NFL is looking to really expand. You see with the 17th game and expanded Playoff format, CBA, and adding more international games. NFL wants to get more of a global market. While NFL is traditionally king in USA, it doesn't have same global pull as a Fifa and NBA. That is a reason why you see them looking 2k. As you said NBA 2k has seen a big jump overall since the middle of the 7th generation compared to Madden. NBA 2k is far from perfect, but has done a good job of balancing the game out. NBA2k has something solid for everyone. They have a solid in-depth MyLeague/Franchise, a Career mode, a card-collecting MyTeam/Ultimate Team, Online Pro-Am and Park. Madden doesn't have the Solid Franchise and Career mode. They neglected the offline gamers for a more casual approach. I feel 2k could do a better job with online environment. I think if they can recreate a NFL version of the Park. Even though I'm an offline only gamer, Madden has been lacking on online modes. Madden has just relied on MUT, traditional Online, and now Superstar KO. For online, you need more quicker and fun modes that can be completed within 5-20 mins without having to play short quarter games. Modes like Training Camp Drills like in 6th generation, Pro Bowl Skill Challenge drills, and 7-on-7 are modes that can be designed to be fun and get completed within 5-20 mins.

I do feel like NFL does want to give 2k it's shot. The deal feels like if successful, 2k could have non-simulation games and simulation games after 2021. With the EA deal expiring after the 2021 season(early 2022), we can expect the negotiations to ramp up within the back half of 2021. I feel the initial success of NFL 2k and it's reception will determine how NFL wants to approach license. The original EA exclusive license was announced in Dec 2004, so I expect a Dec 2021 announcement of how things will go.

[NewAgeOutlaw716]

I hope 2K can make a sim football game in 2022 like ESPN 2K4 and 2K5 with Chris Berman.

[grabursock55]

the fact that madden sold more copies in 2019 than 2009 is the saddest part of your post.

[JayhawkerStL]

Quote: Originally Posted by grabursock55

the fact that madden sold more copies in 2019 than 2009 is the saddest part of your post.

Since I remember Madden 09 as a pure trash, but have been enjoying the series since Madden 15, it makes sense to me.

And I’ve been a sim gamer since the 70s. Once Madden stopped trying to be a sim and start being fun, it got better.

[jerwoods]

i think NFL2K21 will be big into myplayer and park play like a 7-7 type of play

but if it sells well it could go well my only worry its all the microtransactions

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by JayhawkerStL

Since I remember Madden 09 as a pure trash, but have been injuring the series since Madden 15, it makes sense to me. And I’ve been a sim gamer since the 70s. Once Madden stopped trying to be a sim and start being fun, it got better.

What? Madden now has super heroes and wastes valuable resources on designing and updating a micro-transaction mode that has nothing to do with the NFL.