OS Roundtable: How Would Football Be Different Without Exclusivity?

[RaychelSnr]

We all love speculation, so let's speculate into a world without exclusivity.

In our alternative universe theory, EA and the NFL never partnered up exclusively and instead -- we had two NFL games going into the new generation of sports games in 2005.

How would have the market had been different? Was there ultimately room for two games -- or would we be at one NFL game like every other sport not named the NBA or Soccer right now? Would NFL 2K have thrived? Would EA have ultimately taken the ESPN license away from 2K?

So many possibilities, let's hear your speculation...

Read More - OS Roundtable: How Would Football Be Different Without Exclusivity?

[OSGuy321]

"The aspect that sucked the most about the whole exclusivity fiasco of football and baseball was that the two companies, more or less, used money to ward off their superior competition. NFL 2K was the king for football, but Madden got the exclusive license. In retaliation, 2K poached the baseball license, even though MVP was a vastly superior product."

True dat !!

Exclusive license is nothing more than something used to make up for an inferior product. Corner the market and create a monopoly. In that way, no one knows they are buying crap.

[bxphenom7]

I'll always be waiting for 2k to be able to return to football. If that happens with the NFL license, that can probably start MVP's return from EA. They should just put this exclusive stuff behind them.

[rtkiii]

Exclusiveness is just a bad idea. For the fans anyway...I am curious if both companies exclusive "price" is worth it. Does Madden truly sell that many more copies to warrant the price they pay the NFL for this license. I would assume so since they keep renewing...or are they just being dicks

The other thing that needs to go away is "Yearly Release" - Why do sport games think they need a yearly cycle? Give a great game every 3 years or so and just update rosters in the in between years.

[SIR924]

Well, from a consumer view point it would be good, because we would have more to choose from. But it's very hard to tell how well a game would have evolved with all the investment decisions that play a role. From a company stand point you have to always leave room for improvements, but at the same time have a great product. 2K football had a very good product, but it's hard to say how much better it would have been. It would have been nice to see them make some kind of football game to show more of what they could have done with their product, to at least get the NFL's attention again.

[moose616]

Re: OS Roundtable: How Would Football Be Different Without Exclusivity?

The other thing that needs to go away is "Yearly Release" - Why do sport games think they need a yearly cycle? Give a great game every 3 years or so and just update rosters in the in between years.

I would support this, and have said the same with many titles, not just sports games (Assassin's Creed?). The hardware is so powerful now that developers could produce some AMAZING games if they weren't rushed by the yearly cycle.

[Retropyro]

Sanner nailed it 100%

[Bull_Dozer]

Competition always makes things better. Exclusivity like this should be illegal.

[cusefan74]

You don't know that it would be any different. I mean look at 2k baseball, that was not getting any better compared to The Show. So why drive yourself crazy dreaming about how things could have been? Yeah the games were better back then when there was two football games, but that doesn't mean it would still be like that.

[bxphenom7]

You don't know that it would be any different. I mean look at 2k baseball, that was not getting any better compared to The Show. So why drive yourself crazy dreaming about how things could have been? Yeah the games were better back then when there was two football games, but that doesn't mean it would still be like that.

Personally, MLB 2k was never good to begin with. NFL 2k was. APF 2k8 was also very good gameplay wise, so if they had the NFL license, there would've been a franchise mode thats would've seen improvement between an NFL 2k6 and NFL 2k7. This is why I believe when anybody brings up the MLB 2k argument, it's pointless.

[Simple Mathematics]

If there weren't exclusive deals, then I think Backbreaker would still be around.

[grodbetatted]

Ima try to be as unbias as possible... I believe both games would've ultimately been good seeing in 05 both games were good. Madden overall gameplay with the introduction of the hitstick and with nfl 2k with the Espn broadcast. They would've made each other better however I would've probably stuck with madden, the lofty feel to passes being thrown in the air on 2k as well as the slower gameplay steered me away from 2k

[Greenblood60]

There's a market for two NFL games, definitely, but eventually I think we would've ended up with one game because ( eventually ) one game proves to be the superior game. The difference would be that ( even if that game was Madden ) it would have benefited from the constant competition to become the superior game.

[bigsmallwood]

End exclusivity and NFL2K would be a top notch game....Madden would be an amazing as well because competition would have pushed them. Instead we get excuses year after year and not the growth we could have....

[Nfl2k5updateroster]

Remember the days when we had 989 Sports NFL Gameday, NFL Quarterback Club, NFL Fever, NFL Street, Backyard Football, NFL Blitz, Madden & last but not least NFL 2K? It was our choice which NFL game we wanted to play. Those were the days