EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

[Robo COP]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

Just out of curiosity, do you care about the facts or are you content believing what you believe? I only ask because if you care about the facts I'll try to find a links for you if not I'll just leave it be, as others have.

Lol. Go ahead and give me the facts their bub. I already know that the NFL supposedly took less money from EA, but it doesn't change the fact that there were offers from both companies on the table.

Lol. First off you don't know what I do outside of this site my man. Secondly you are entitled to your opinion, I'll leave it at that.

.....? So let's hear it then "my man."

It's easy to pretend like you know more information without actually revealing any of that information. Good job. You totally just won the argument by being condescending while never really revealing you know squat about what happened. You just insinuated you did.

Great point. My man. I look forward to you actually contributing your knowledge. Unless you really are just going to leave it at that? I mean, if you really do know more about it, wouldn't it benefit us all if you shared this information?

[Robo COP]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

EDIT: Double post

[tsbmolina]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

I suppose it's possible but 2k knew the license was up after this year. It would've made more sense to approach the NFL two years ago so their game would be ready now when the ps4 and Xbox1 one are just getting started. EA had to recode or port madden to these consoles so this is about as level of a playing field as they could hope for.

I think this was our last realistic window for a competitor. I'm a little surprised the NFL would go exclusive for so long. EA holds are the cards when negotiating the price now. This isn't apparel where Nike can replace Reebok in a month or so. But the NFL must know something I don't. They're pretty good at making money.

Not necessarily because remember with a new system comes new development tools and it would have been impossible for 2K to know what the PS4 and Xbox One would be capable of 2 years ago. Now 2K knows and now they can start working on a new game. Also consider the fact that the install base for these systems are very small now and will be much greater two years from now. Why invest in such an expensive license now with little chance of recouping cost and selling as many copies then you would 2 years from now when the install base will be much greater, you can only sell as many copies as there are systems sold. Smart business would dictate be patient and attack when the odds are on your side.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

I think it's time to forget this now. EA and madden are all that there will ever be again so we just have to hope for the best.

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[KingofATL]

Plain and simple....

EA Sports is a Great White Shark and 2K Sports are guppies in the world of video gaming. No way 2K Sports is in any financial state to compete to buy into the license. If you break it down... 2K Sports only real successful game is NBA 2K. No way they have the same kind of deep pockets EA has. Money always makes things move and unfortunately 2K doesn't have enough capitol to stomp with the big boys. It is the nature of the beast.

It's all comes down to money at the end of the day.

[mmorg]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

Plain and simple....

EA Sports is a Great White Shark and 2K Sports are guppies in the world of video gaming. No way 2K Sports is in any financial state to compete to buy into the license. If you break it down... 2K Sports only real successful game is NBA 2K. No way they have the same kind of deep pockets EA has. Money always makes things move and unfortunately 2K doesn't have enough capitol to stomp with the big boys. It is the nature of the beast.

It's all comes down to money at the end of the day.

2k sports is a subsidiary of a company with some pretty deep pockets themselves. It's not some operation run out of some guys garage.

[HealyMonster]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

So we knew EA held the license, and basically knew no other company owned the license to make a game, therefore EA exclusively owns the license. That doesn't nessecarily mean it's the same exclusive license that they have had for 10 years. 2k may not have gotten back into the game, and they may not ever, but I don't think we can say with 100% certainty that we know what is possible or what the specific details are regarding the nfl license and video games.

[LBzrule]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

Bingo! 2K cheapened the product!

There would be no glaring impetus for the NFL to give exclusive rights If 2K and EA were using the same price points.


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Meeh. The problem I have with this argument is that it takes for granted that the NFL did not know the situation in the NFL football gaming market. That is, it takes for granted that the NFL did not know about the competition between the two development houses and how one house was the big name in the market and the other one needed to do something drastic to get market share.

Second, the Thomas' were quite clear that this would be the only time that the game would be priced this way, indicating that they were giving people a "superior product" to get market share.

Third, it points to the NFL not even looking at 2k5 the game itself and recognizing it as a great product.

So in the end, the argument seems to say, the NFL never even looked at the game, they just looked at the 20 tag and said our product has been "cheapened." I think the NFL knew it had a competitive gaming market. I think they knew this would be the only time 2k had the price this way.

Lastly, if something sells for a cheap price does that mean a product has been "cheapened" in the sense that it seems to be used here, namely, to degrade?

Ehhh one more point, why would the NFL care how much anyone sold the game for when they had already gotten paid? I'd venture to say EA cared more than the NFL did because they had to lower their price and lose money and it pissed them off to no end.

I think the big idea for the NFL and EA is that hey, let's cut this off.
NFL: If you guys pay us more than we can get from all of these other guys paying us to develop a game, we can make it exclusive.
EA: Our development house just got their a$$ beat and those a$$holes over there made us lower the price on our game to compete. We lost money on that. They must be destroyed at all cost.

And that last sentence is not far from verbatim. Six to seven months prior to the exclusive license being signed EA's Jeremy Strauser publicly stated, "We are going to destroy the competition." No one knew what he was talking about at that point.

[LBzrule]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

It appears to me that 2k created this situation with their tactics of price slashing. This was an attempt to be cute and take the market share from EA and it back fired. Madden may not be the game a lot of us want, but 2k is to blame. EA fired back and gave 2k some of their own medicine. If 2k would have never opened that door and threatened the NFL brand, MAYBE an exclusive deal would not have come into play.

Again, how was the brand threatened and why would the NFL care when they already got paid from both EA and 2k that year?

[LBzrule]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

np you have a right to think if you want. Just sounds funny to me. A hypothetical would be if 2K or EA paid the NFL $10 billion dollars for the exclusive NFL license, then decided to give the games away for free. Some act like the NFL would say "Wait a minute - no deal! You have to sell each game at $59.99. Oh, and we tell you what an appropriate sale price is"

"And when to have a sale"

I agree. The NFL already received their money that year from both parties. IF anything EA was pissed off they had to lower the price of their game to compete with a game that graphically looked miles better than their game did. The fact is EA lost money and their shareholders were angry especially with the market shifting. There is no doubt they saw this as something that could become a huge problem and their MO was to GET RID OF IT at all cost.

[LBzrule]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

If he doesn't write code, what's he good for? (Rhetorical question)
I believe the biggest problem with Madden is that they use too many gameplay designers. The game of football already exists. COPY IT! There is nothing to "design".

He's a producer. They don't write how linebackers react; OL blocking schemes; DB vs WR play. That's not what producers do. At least when it comes to this game anyways.

[LBzrule]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

I don't know what other words to use to describe it but over-designed.
Maybe they don't have too many designers, just bad ones?

Actually, if your inquiry is into why the game is in the state that it's in I'd say this.

EA has had great producers (IMO). They went out and hired ex-NFL players. They have access to all tape. They talk with coaches every year. So why is the game in the shape that it is in???

I wouldn't care if Ray Lewis was let's say the Producer of Tackling. He can sit there and tell programmers all day long about how tackling is supposed to be and what the outcomes would be, how this angle might produce that result. He's communicating with a programmer. And what he says is trying to be translating onto a computer screen. He can describe things perfectly day in and day out, but that does not mean that it's going to come up on that screen perfectly as he has described it.

We can watch all the videos from E3. EA hired Clint Oldenberg. But look at the OL. They might be blocking "right", but it still doesn't look organic. Same thing from the example above, he can tell them, but that doesn't mean it's going to be perfect in relationship to how he described it.

[FaceMask]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

Again, how was the brand threatened and why would the NFL care when they already got paid from both EA and 2k that year?

Exactly. The NFL didn't care about the pricing. EA however did care for reasons solely regarding their own profit margins, not wanting to cut the price of Madden to hang on to market share. They said it themselves in the Pecover memos.

The whole "The NFL went crazies about $19.99!" is a long-standing inaccurate tale that was told a decade ago in conjecture by internet posters and never died, despite the facts coming out disproving the tale, which most never read.

At this point, I just figure too many people believe it now that it will just stay the story people go with. It also doesn't help that there is a guy on YouTube spreading the same misinformation to his thousands of subscribers. I saw a poster mention the facts to him at the top of one vid, but apparently he ignored it because he keeps making videos spreading the misinformation. I sometimes wonder if some of these guys are paid to do that kind of thing, like disinfo agents or something.

[hanzsomehanz]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

Meeh. The problem I have with this argument is that it takes for granted that the NFL did not know the situation in the NFL football gaming market. That is, it takes for granted that the NFL did not know about the competition between the two development houses and how one house was the big name in the market and the other one needed to do something drastic to get market share.

Second, the Thomas' were quite clear that this would be the only time that the game would be priced this way, indicating that they were giving people a "superior product" to get market share.

Third, it points to the NFL not even looking at 2k5 the game itself and recognizing it as a great product.

So in the end, the argument seems to say, the NFL never even looked at the game, they just looked at the 20 tag and said our product has been "cheapened." I think the NFL knew it had a competitive gaming market. I think they knew this would be the only time 2k had the price this way.

Lastly, if something sells for a cheap price does that mean a product has been "cheapened" in the sense that it seems to be used here, namely, to degrade?

Ehhh one more point, why would the NFL care how much anyone sold the game for when they had already gotten paid? I'd venture to say EA cared more than the NFL did because they had to lower their price and lose money and it pissed them off to no end.

I think the big idea for the NFL and EA is that hey, let's cut this off.
NFL: If you guys pay us more than we can get from all of these other guys paying us to develop a game, we can make it exclusive.
EA: Our development house just got their a$$ beat and those a$$holes over there made us lower the price on our game to compete. We lost money on that. They must be destroyed at all cost.

And that last sentence is not far from verbatim. Six to seven months prior to the exclusive license being signed EA's Jeremy Strauser publicly stated, "We are going to destroy the competition." No one knew what he was talking about at that point.

If it is a matter of terms I can explain but if you simply have differing views I will remain still.

I used the term cheapen literally and in the figurative sense: lit in respect to unit prices and figuratively in what it spoke to the consumer - " other pro sport titles are being sold for much more but here is a solid product you can have for the *cheap cheap."

I used the term impetus to acknowledge that it was the difference in price points (not base product value) that provoked the cry for change - NFL being the mediator, fascilitator, and pivotal partner for the change.

***wish we could quote what the quoter quoted***

I respect your views and I appreciate that you shared that comment about "destroying competition" - never knew that statement existed (in seriousness).

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[SageInfinite]

Re: EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

.....? So let's hear it then "my man."

It's easy to pretend like you know more information without actually revealing any of that information. Good job. You totally just won the argument by being condescending while never really revealing you know squat about what happened. You just insinuated you did.

Great point. My man. I look forward to you actually contributing your knowledge. Unless you really are just going to leave it at that? I mean, if you really do know more about it, wouldn't it benefit us all if you shared this information?

I didn't pretend like I knew anything. I just stated my opinion. The only one being condescending is you by trying to **** on my opinion by assuming I don't know anything and wouldn't be successful. I was just making the point to not assume things about people you don't know, that's it. We have different opinions and I was leaving it at that.