Madden vs. "The Competition"

[duckfever8]

I'd take Backbreaker over Madden at this point.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

The reason it's not a monopoly is that othe companies can make football games, just not an NFL one. I will say that when EA bought the rights to NFL, NCAA, AFL, etc that maybe then one could have made a case for monopoly because they bought up licenses to multiple types of football games. But just in this sense, the NFL sold EA the exclusive rights and no monopoly was established.

Don't want to get into this argument again but c'mon - the market for North American football is the NFL & NCAA. Anyone that controls those exclusive licenses controls the market. There's no need to argue the legality of the situation, but I'm sure it wasn't coincidence that those licenses all fell within months of each other. I don't think EA did anything illegal but they definitely acted in a way to severely restrict competition.

To the topic, while I think it's unfair to expect a 1st year NFL title to match up against Madden in it's 5th next gen iteration, I think it speaks to how bad Madden's been that this question is even plausible. Madden 06-09 were varying degrees of horrid. And 10 started to show some life. Give 2K or 989 5yrs and the license and I think they'd be running rings around Tiburon - it's primarily because of exclusivity that Madden's retained any sense of stature. It's actually regarded less now than it was before next gen - that's ridiculous. I think 2K would probably be capable of making a good first-effort next gen NFL game and would likely buy them over Madden 11. Unlike last gen Madden I can't think of any features that would draw me to wanting to play it - Pro-Tak looks one and done, the new features for this year are unexciting (to me), the game still animates stiffly/awkwardly. My only reason to purchase it is because if I want to play an NFL game I have no other choice. Well the other choice is simply not playing

[e0820]

I would take NFL2k5 with updated graphics and a NFL License or atleast an editor. I might take BackBreaker 2 over Madden. I wasnt impressed with the BB demo so far.

[ODogg]

I agree that what they did restricted competition but the NFL is not a product that's a public service, like phone service or the oil industry or other areas where we have seen monopolies. I know exactly where you guys are coming from on this, I don't like the no-competition thing either, but every time I see "EA has a monopoly on football games" I must correct it because that implies that EA is doing something shady or illegal when in fact they are not. They simply licensed a product is all.

The truth is games like Blitz II: The League, All Pro Football 2K8, Backyard Football and Backbreaker are all football titles so there is most definitely competition for EA's football games. It's just using a license that most of us want to see in a football game is the difference. That's no monopoly, that's just smart business.

I 100% agree with the rest of your post, give 2K sports 5 years of development using the NFL license and it'd probably be one of the most popular selling games on the next-gen consoles and vastly superior to EA's current game. There is very little doubt in my mind that's true.

But again, it comes back to this, the NFL is not a public good or service, it's a private, trademarked property. It'd be like demanding that all fast food places should be allowed to serve a Big Mac. Does McDonalds have a monopoly on Big Macs? How crazy is it when you think of it in those terms. Imagine people saying they demand that someone do something about the fact that McDonalds is the only one that can serve Big Macs? Sure the relationship is slightly different since the NFL isn't making the games themselves and having EA do it for them but the logic is the same, Madden is the NFL game simply because the NFL has decided that's how they want it to be, not because EA did some dirty business tricks to corner the market and screw everyone over..which is to me what saying they are a "monopoly" implies..

[ODogg]

BTW - here is a legal definition of a monopoly. I believe the parts I bolded are a big part of why EA having the NFL exclusive license is not a monopoly:

An economic advantage held by one or more persons or companies deriving from the exclusive power to carry on a particular business or trade or to manufacture and sell a particular item, thereby suppressing competition and allowing such persons or companies to raise the price of a product or service substantially above the price that would be established by a free market.

I think if EA tried to charge $99 for Madden then you guys who believe it's a monopoly would have a very valid point. But the fact that EA is not using their exclusive licensing to profit exccessivly above market value, then it's not even close to being a monopoly.

[ODogg]

oh here is my source btw: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/monopoly

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

The truth is games like Blitz II: The League, All Pro Football 2K8, Backyard Football and Backbreaker are all football titles so there is most definitely competition for EA's football games. It's just using a license that most of us want to see in a football game is the difference. That's no monopoly, that's just smart business.

But that's really not competition. That's like saying a division 3 high school team is competition for the New England Patriots imo. Yes, it's competition in that there's *something* they're going against, but all those games are automatically relegated to niche title status based on the fact they don't have the licenses. No one expected any of those games to sell a fraction of what Madden did in the years where they were released, and it's why we've only seen two developers (2K and NaturalMotion) take a stab at making a non-licensed game. In six years. A game would have to near-perfectly thread the needle in order to have a chance at being successful. If Tiburon were even halfway-competent at motion capture they'd be limiting BB's appeal right now. The only reason it seems like there's competition is because of Tiburon's ineptness imo.

[LingeringRegime]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

But that's really not competition. That's like saying a division 3 high school team is competition for the New England Patriots imo. Yes, it's competition in that there's *something* they're going against, but all those games are automatically relegated to niche title status based on the fact they don't have the licenses. No one expected any of those games to sell a fraction of what Madden did in the years where they were released, and it's why we've only seen two developers (2K and NaturalMotion) take a stab at making a non-licensed game. In six years. A game would have to near-perfectly thread the needle in order to have a chance at being successful. If Tiburon were even halfway-competent at motion capture they'd be limiting BB's appeal right now. The only reason it seems like there's competition is because of Tiburon's ineptness imo.