Tiger Needs Wins for EA Deal to Make Sense

[RaychelSnr]

Reuters has the scoop:

"This is no threat against Tiger," Ricitiello said at the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York. "We're with him because he has the promise of being the world's best golfer.

"We have no plans to move away from him, but it's a business relationship on the basis of we make the best golf game and he's the best golfer," he added. "Both of those things need to be true in the long run for the partnership to make sense."

I somewhat agree with EA's approach to this. If Tiger's star does fade, there's no reason to brand a golf game around him anymore if he's no longer by far and away the best player in the world. But as far as will he return to that level of dominance, who knows? But it's pretty apparent EA wants Tiger to perform better to keep the agreement intact.

[jcon4]

I've been wondering about this! If he doesn't follow through... will we be looking at "EA SPORTS Phil 2012!"

[thelwig14]

Re: Tiger Needs Wins for EA Deal to Make Sense

Tiger isn't worth it. They need to go back to the basics of PGA Tour Golf 2012 and allow the user to pick amongst 20 pros or so.

[osubeavs721]

@jcon4- Phil couldnt win without tiger there or tiger playing the worst of his career... WHy would EA feature that tubby loser for the title of the game?

@thelwig- if they continue to just have 20 pros or so i will continue to stop buying the game.


they need a pga tour sim. get all 125 returning card players in the game with 20+ courses with course packs available for cheap DLC to just boot the courses off the HDD. Just give me something with no power boost and post shot spin alter. Thats fine if you choose a power swing for you swing but make it way harder to be accurate and make people choose what kind of spin they want BEFORE the shot. Make this game realistic and hard

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[ThatRadioGuy]

..

I have covered professional golf since the late eighties in my job. During the dot.com boom, I was a gaming journalist/executive in Los Angeles full-time. So .. I have a fairly unique take on this from many years looking at both sides of the coin.

Chris said in the post:

"If Tiger's star does fade, there's no reason to brand a golf game around him anymore if he's no longer by far and away the best player in the world."

Well, actually, if you want to go back in history and look at how it was done before Tiger Woods, that's exactly how golf was marketed to gamers. There was a great old series called "Links" that went back many years to the origin of the personal computer. It was a company called "Access". They signed Arnold Palmer to be on the box of their game. This was some 30+ years since Arnold Palmer won a major tournament. In addition, there was a direct competitor to Links in the form of a company called "Accolade". They put out "Jack Nicklaus Golf". These were the two big boys, Accolade and Access. Microsoft eventually bought Access and shut down "Links" and Accolade just kinda faded away. So, the previous history of golf games is exactly the opposite of Chris' statement. Golf games have been marketed with golfers that have long since passed their prime. They did this mostly due to the professional player's popularity and endearing nature.

You could make the statement, "Well, jhees, that's Arnold Palmer, Dave. There's no comparison." Actually, and we need to get a grip on this, Tiger Woods has won not just more .. but .. MANY more major championships than Arnold Palmer ever did. "Well, it's Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of all time". That's arguable. I say it was an amateur golfer, who was a lawyer by trade, from Atlanta in the twenties that retired from competitive golf at the age of 30. "Well, how many times did HE win The Masters?"

He invented The Masters.

And the golf course it is played on.

So, everything is relative. Electronic Arts is well served by its relationship with Tiger Woods. Gaming is different in marketing. You need the sizzle. This isn't Augusta National Golf Club. This is modern media. And if people talk about it, the kids .. they just love it. Remember, this is a genre that worships games where you blow people's brains out with a bazooka to the face and we all get a little "Hot Coffee" while playing GTA. This is gaming. Never forget that.

If Tiger Woods never wins another golf tournament, it will be quite some time before there will be another golfer that champions a game in the marketplace. There is nobody .. nobody .. that reaches across the divide of demographics that Earl's boy Eldrick reaches. You have just witnessed an anomaly for the ages, folks. Never done before and probably never again. Tiger Woods is golf to two generations. No amount of skanks will change that. He is "The Legend from Los Angeles".

I foresee the next great golfer coming from Asia. And it won't be one golfer. It will be 320 great golfers.

But that's not for another thirty years.

So, until then, it's all Tiger all the time. And for EA, they'll ride that pony in to the sunset.

DD

..

[Beastly Wayz]

Good coment by ThatRadioGuy....Iagree with you 110% on everythign that you sd. Well maybe not the 320 Asain Golfers part, but damn close......

[Beastly Wayz]

Good coment by ThatRadioGuy....Iagree with you 110% on everythign that you sd. Well maybe not the 320 Asain Golfers part, but damn close......

Also I misspelled - comment - so there

[ThatRadioGuy]

:-) No problem, Beast. I used to be Editor-in-Chief of a print golf magazine. I go through posts online and marvel at the quality of writing that gets published on these websites. You have to remember, though, on these websites, these are just kids that get paid a free game to write an article that takes 30 hours of research. It's fun research, though!

If you see improper grammar or spelling .. or even a bizarre philosophy .. cut these people a break. They can't make a living at this stuff. They destroyed that chance with the "click through" philosophy. I was General Manager of a Sports NETWORK in the late nineties and early 2000's. My network went from .. 300,000 page views a day to ... of people who viewed the page, how many clicked on the ad? OK, of people who clicked on the ad, how many BOUGHT something? OK, of people who BOUGHT something, how much did they buy?

I went from 300,000 page views to $0.32

And therein lies why the dot.com boom went bust.

How many people looked at that ad in a print magazine? Well, hard to tell. We have a circulation of 3.2 million. OK, sell off of that ad rate. How about radio? How many people hit a button to go to another station when a commercial came on? Well, hard to tell. But, we have an AQH of 9.4 Excellent, sell off that ad rate. And so on ..

For example, of that billboard, how many people climbed up a ladder and pushed on that billboard and were magically transported to the showroom where a 2010 Mustang was sitting? Well, that's not the way it works.

Advertising is nebulous. It's like a cloud. You see a horse, I see a dog.

And that, kiddos, is why the dot.com boom went *kablooey* and what you read on the web is nowhere near journalism.

There's just no money in it.

Anywhere.

Of any count.

Of any kind.

Period.

[mike24forever]

Lately I tend to disagree with a lot of Chris's Blogs. I do not understand the way he looks at anything EA does. Tiger winning is great for any company that is sponsoring Tiger, however he is still the main and most famous golfer in the world NO MATTER HOW HE IS PERFORMING. Again, he is the most FAMOUS golfer in the world. Why would EA put anyone else's name on their golf game.

EA would be stupid to drop his name from the game, the same way it would be stupid for EA to drop the Madden name from their NFL game. PRODUCT RECOGNITION!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ThatRadioGuy]

..

Well, ms24forever, you gotta be realistic when you see opinions or philosophy direction of a website. And let me say that I speak from grand experience. I was there. I know how it works. And I am no longer working with EA or a competitor of EA anymore. I don't care what they think.

If games make more money than all Hollywood movies COMBINED .. and the people who give their opinion or sway a website direction on said games .. are unpaid .. what do you think is going to happen? This is capitalism, man .. there is big money on the table here.

This is the danger you get in to when you have unpaid "journalists".

It's simple, you do the math. It's just capitalism and marketing.

On the other hand, I'd be a stupid businessman to not spend $2000 when it would make a difference of $650,000 in profit.

Take a look at everything you see on these sites, consider motivation and perspective. Remember, all politics are local. And don't judge .. until you've actually been put in that position. You might do the same.

Wildly successful games are profitable for both game sites and game makers.

All politics are local.

..

[JerseySuave4]

there is no other golfer that is recognized as much to a casual fan than Tiger Woods. Not even Phil. Tiger alone sells games just because of who he is. Taking him off the cover would take such a well known face off the cover and would lead to people just looking past your game. Sounds stupid to say that people buy the game because of the guy on the cover but how successful would EA's golf series be without Tiger as the frontman? We prob would have seen them get rid of the franchise the way they did Nascar.

We saw the backlash when EA changed NBA Live to NBA Elite (even before any bit of info other than the title came out). Like someone else said, you dont take Madden out of the NFL title, you dont take Tiger off the golf title. They are the recognizable names that people have become familiar with and Tiger is the most recognizable, famous, and best golfer on the planet.

[Money99]

Re: Tiger Needs Wins for EA Deal to Make Sense

Lately I tend to disagree with a lot of Chris's Blogs. I do not understand the way he looks at anything EA does. Tiger winning is great for any company that is sponsoring Tiger, however he is still the main and most famous golfer in the world NO MATTER HOW HE IS PERFORMING. Again, he is the most FAMOUS golfer in the world. Why would EA put anyone else's name on their golf game.

EA would be stupid to drop his name from the game, the same way it would be stupid for EA to drop the Madden name from their NFL game. PRODUCT RECOGNITION!!!!!!!!!!!!

To play devils advocate, the difference is that Madden's name hasn't been sullied. Tiger's image is in ruins, yet I'm sure he's still demanding top dollar to be on the cover of EA's golf game.
That's where the conundrum lies. If Tiger isn't winning, and his name is dirt, then why pay top-dollar for that spokesman.

I heard an interesting stat that said the year before the whoring came out, Tiger's sponsors spent $70M on advertising splashing his brand all over the world. Since last Thanksgiving? $700K.
That's an enormous drop. Tiger's earning power is greatly reduced. If he's not winning, then all he's known for is 'that guy who used to be good, but now he's a pig who nails pigs".

People will still buy EA's golf game with or without Tiger on the cover. In fact, I'm starting to wonder how many fringe golf fans stayed away from this game because of Tiger?

[thelwig14]

Re: Tiger Needs Wins for EA Deal to Make Sense

@jcon4- Phil couldnt win without tiger there or tiger playing the worst of his career... WHy would EA feature that tubby loser for the title of the game?

@thelwig- if they continue to just have 20 pros or so i will continue to stop buying the game.


they need a pga tour sim. get all 125 returning card players in the game with 20+ courses with course packs available for cheap DLC to just boot the courses off the HDD. Just give me something with no power boost and post shot spin alter. Thats fine if you choose a power swing for you swing but make it way harder to be accurate and make people choose what kind of spin they want BEFORE the shot. Make this game realistic and hard

You didnt understand what my point. Have the entire Tour...but allow the user to pick among 20 pros or so to start a season. Give the user an option to not have to create a dumb create a golfer. No other EA game forces you to play with a fake player.