EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

[lofeazy]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

It s a great bussiness move for EA.

Now I haven't brought a Madden game snice the 06 game.(rented all the way up to madden10)I am perfectly happy playing last Gen football games.No matter how many of us complain about the game.Its going to sell no matter what.(Because its the only NFL football game.)Only way Madden will ever change is if the sale take a major hit.(I am talking about less then a million units sold in a year.But It never happen)

[LiquorLogic]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

It's not the economy, its the market.

Okay, what about the market is changing to negatively effect Madden's sales. The NFL is more popular than ever. Why are Halo and COD thriving when Madden isn't ?

The lengths to which people will go to defend Madden is baffling. It's not the angst that people clearly have toward Madden, it's not the fact that previous versions of Madden, some that are over five years old, are deeper than Madden 11, now, it's not even the economy, it's the market.

[mestevo]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

Okay, what about the market is changing to negatively effect Madden's sales. The NFL is more popular than ever. Why are Halo and COD thriving when Madden isn't ?

The lengths to which people will go to defend Madden is baffling. It's not the angst that people clearly have toward Madden, it's not the fact that previous versions of Madden, some that are over five years old, are deeper than Madden 11, now, it's not even the economy, it's the market.

It's the market. Nothing really replaced the PS2. To quote you, here, I'll bold the important part for you too.

So it's a coincidence that Madden sales started to decline when EA got the exclusive license, and have continued to decline ever since then ?

Madden 2005:
PS2 4.46
XB 1.46
DS 0.25
Total: 6.17

(EA gets the exclusive license)

Madden 2006:
PS2 3.92
XB 1.54
PSP 0.74
360 0.64
GC 0.42
DS 0.12
Total: 7.38m

Note the YoY growth in Madden 06, after EA got the exclusive. So much for your theory.

Looking at todays figures, nothing has matched the PS2, the market is more fragmented. It's pretty simple, the market has changed, something that can be proven rather than the 'omg madden is bad ea can go to hell' yelling at the sky being done by many on this subject. Sales didn't pick up on other consoles as the PS2 fell off. Gamers got older, some of them picked up new systems, others moved on, and new ones were naturally brought into the fold.

Madden 11
360 2.27
PS3 1.82
Wii 0.51
PS2 0.39
PSP 0.34
Total: 5.33m

You also have Ultimate Team, the Facebook stuff, and other microtransactions funding this title.

[ryan36]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

35% of 5 million is 1.75 million. Isn't that enough sales to be a profitable game? That's not including NFL fans sitting on the sidelines or ones that would purchase both NFL titles.

Maybe, at a $60 price point. NFL 2k5 sold about that percentage at a $20 price point. I think if a competing product was $60 and Madden was $60 , Madden would beat it by a larger margin. I don't know what the dev costs would actually be, but I know you'd have a longer ramp-up period, you wouldn't instantly be the better game this gen. You'd take a couple years to get to profitability and stock holders don't like that.

[RJTurneR]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

If any of this were true Madden would only be worked on by 8 animators, a UI guy and a numbers guy in a portable outside of an EA campus. A lot of money goes into these games, and the individuals have a lot of reason to make a good game - their continued employment. While there are plenty of reasons to want competition, going the complete other way with blanket statements is contrary to your title.

This is why I rarely bash EA. To say they put no effort into it is a ridiculous thing to say. The reason why Madden stinks is because year after year their building on the same game engine they have been using for years. Mass amounts of code. I'm no game developer, but I'm sure its pretty hard to pick up these tiny little problems within a HUGE game engine that has code added to it year after year.

The next thing people will say is "Why don't they just build a new game engine?"

Ok, thats possible, but game engines, in order to be great, take a long time to develop. It's not something done overnight. If anyone wants a game engine thats worse than the mediocre one we have now, then by all means go ahead.

Madden releases on a yearly bases. Unless they have a completely separate project building a game engine while still releasing Madden, then there's no way they can possibly make a perfect game.

The guys are EA are just like anyone else. They work hard to earn their money and keep their jobs.

[EddieV]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

You'd take a couple years to get to profitability and stock holders don't like that.

Then how do you explain EA, which hasn't had a profitable quarter in years?

[LiquorLogic]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

It's the market. Nothing really replaced the PS2. To quote you, here, I'll bold the important part for you too.



Madden 2005:
PS2 4.46
XB 1.46
DS 0.25
Total: 6.17

(EA gets the exclusive license)

Madden 2006:
PS2 3.92
XB 1.54
PSP 0.74
360 0.64
GC 0.42
DS 0.12
Total: 7.38m

Note the YoY growth in Madden 06, after EA got the exclusive. So much for your theory.

Looking at todays figures, nothing has matched the PS2, the market is more fragmented. It's pretty simple, the market has changed, something that can be proven rather than the 'omg madden is bad ea can go to hell' yelling at the sky being done by many on this subject. Sales didn't pick up on other consoles as the PS2 fell off. Gamers got older, some of them picked up new systems, others moved on, and new ones were naturally brought into the fold.

Madden 11
360 2.27
PS3 1.82
Wii 0.51
PS2 0.39
PSP 0.34
Total: 5.33m

You also have Ultimate Team, the Facebook stuff, and other microtransactions funding this title.

If sales didn't pick up on new consoles and sales the PS2 fell off, what should that tell you ? They still make Madden for the PS2 ? PS2 still exists right ? Gamers get older and move on, but new gamers replace them, yet Maddens sales are lower when looking at the numbers you've provided.

If the market is changing, sales should stay the same, or increase, across all platforms. Based on the numbers you've shown, they haven't.

The market changing would only negatively affect a particular console's sales because sales are going toward other platforms. You've shown that Madden's sales are down across all platforms.

[boom.h]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

I doubt EA Tiburon has employees working for them that can, not only write code, but have a deep understanding about the game of football.
I think when EA decide on the team to code for Madden, they just go for the employees who are NFL fans instead of hiring football heads WHO JUST HAPPEN to also know how to code.

[RGiles36]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

What will happen is that EA will no longer want to pay for, or be able to pay for, the expensive exclusive license, and the NFL( more than likely) will just go back to letting multiple publishers produce a game to make up the difference.

This doesn't sound like wishful thinking in the least to you?

I know this thread is going to go on & on as it should. But it's clear that every time this debate sparks, the same rhetoric goes back & forth on both sides. Whether it's suspect sales numbers courtesy of VG charts, bad analogies ("if I bought a car w/ no engine"), dialogue about the economy, neither side gives up any ground.

However, there is a bottom line to all of this. That, my friends, is that the exclusive license is here today (and in all likelihood not going away). Fans have been yapping about sagging sales since M08. And twice now since then, the NFL & EA has re-up'd. So much for the impact those sales are having on EA/NFL.

Again, if you think that the exclusive license hasn't produced benefits for both EA and the NFL, you're probably being naive. If it didn't make business sense for neither company, I assure you a license would not be in place. It is what it is. Carry on...

[baumy300]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

This is just untrue.

Which part?

The NFL isn't turning fans off with the Super Bowl seating debacle, the proposed 18 game schedule that an ESPN poll showed over 75% of the people are against, the talk of a Super Bowl in cold weather, the talk of a Super Bowl in another country, the stupid fines, or the impending lockout?

And do I really need to try and prove to you that Madden isn't losing fans?

[Dog]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

The NFL isn't turning fans off with the Super Bowl seating debacle, the proposed 18 game schedule that an ESPN poll showed over 75% of the people are against, the talk of a Super Bowl in cold weather, the talk of a Super Bowl in another country, the stupid fines, or the impending lockout?

No, they aren't. The NFL breaks ratings records every year, it is the most popular it has ever been.

[EddieV]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

Again, if you think that the exclusive license hasn't produced benefits for both EA and the NFL, you're probably being naive. If it didn't make business sense for neither company, I assure you a license would not be in place. It is what it is. Carry on...

EA's shareholders aren't going to continue to accept hundreds of millions of dollars of loss every quarter -- sooner or later, current management will have to start showing some profit, or else they'll be out on the street. No telling whether new management would make the same decision to overpay for the exclusive license.

[raz77]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

Remember the rising population plus the rising number of TVs and consoles in homes in any argument about the growth of the league.

[boom.h]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

EA's shareholders aren't going to continue to accept hundreds of millions of dollars of loss every quarter -- sooner or later, current management will have to start showing some profit, or else they'll be out on the street. No telling whether new management would make the same decision to overpay for the exclusive license.

Agreed. There will come a time when the Exclusive License will have EA's Madden division operating at a loss. This is when shareholders will demand it be let go.

Until that fateful day, all we can hope for is for Madden to inch itself forward, year after year.

[LiquorLogic]

Re: EA/NFL Extend NFL Exclusive License by One Year to 2013

This doesn't sound like wishful thinking in the least to you?

I know this thread is going to go on & on as it should. But it's clear that every time this debate sparks, the same rhetoric goes back & forth on both sides. Whether it's suspect sales numbers courtesy of VG charts, bad analogies ("if I bought a car w/ no engine"), dialogue about the economy, neither side gives up any ground.

However, there is a bottom line to all of this. That, my friends, is that the exclusive license is here today (and in all likelihood not going away). Fans have been yapping about sagging sales since M08. And twice now since then, the NFL & EA has re-up'd. So much for the impact those sales are having on EA/NFL.

Again, if you think that the exclusive license hasn't produced benefits for both EA and the NFL, you're probably being naive. If it didn't make business sense for neither company, I assure you a license would not be in place. It is what it is. Carry on...

If sales don't improve, or at least stop declining, why would EA continue to pay the expensive fee ? How is that good business ? If sales don't improve, or stop declining, don't you think EA would finally create a new engine regardless of whether they have a competitor or not ?

I don't know why EA re-uped the license last time. Maybe the sales didn't decline enough; maybe EA thought it was an anomaly; maybe EA was scared of 2k. Remember when the retired players were screwed by the NFLPA derailing the plans for APF 2k9 ? That happened in the same year that the exclusive license was extended. Coincidence ? Maybe, or maybe not.

The NFL's benefits are obvious, but EA sales have been declining for years. They sell less now, but pay more for the license. I don't see where the benefit, for EA, is.