Madden NFL 15 News Post

Colin Kaepernick Will Be the Only Player in Madden NFL 15 with Tattoos

03:26 PM - June 5, 2014 by Steve_OS

Polygon's Samit Sarkar interviewed Seann Graddy, line producer of Madden NFL 15 and asked him why tattoos are making their way back to the Madden series and what was the reason for their disappearance.

Many people figured it was a licensing agreement with EA and the NFL, but that is not the case. According to Seann, it comes down to copyright infringement. The player needs to secure permission from the artist first, which Kaepernick did, before EA can even begin to implement the tattoos into the game.

Quote:


	For now, Kaepernick is the only player who will appear in Madden 15 with his authentic tattoos, because he's the only one who has obtained the permissions from the artists involved. "We want to do this with every player, frankly, and we're hopeful that more players over time actually go out and secure the rights so that we can use their tattoos as well," said Graddy.

If another players wants his tattoos in the game, they need to go through the same process as Kaepernick. Since the game is almost complete, the odds of getting anyone else in the game with authentic tattoos is slim. We'll most likely see more players with tattoos in Madden NFL 16.

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Member Comments

# 61 infemous @ 06/05/14 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpizzle28


	After reading multiple articles it seems to me that Colin went out of his way to do this. He wanted to set the tone. Props to him. As far as the NBA, UFC, and WWE are concerned, those players/athletes market themselves like crazy. Bird-Man had to do the same thing for NBA 2K. Funny to me that no one noticed they added in the QB play selection band on his arm. Nice!

this is also huge for his personal brand, especially just getting the contract he just got. I think this is the main reason he really sought that out.

# 62 hanzsomehanz @ 06/05/14 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	I think you were referring to me with the "impeccable timing" pharselogy. The tatts don't mean much to me, but to others they do for the authenticity, so, I wasn't so much focused on the tatts vs Kap in the news yesterday for signing a big honking contract and showing off the new player model. Just to set everything straight, the marketing of Kap(he could have been w/o the tatts) was impeccable to me before E3.

Its all good, Road, there is a party of people who will side w both points: I was just sharing my side of the view.

I also personally feel that the Kap signing is overshadowed by the Cover Vote finals between Sherm and Cam in reapect to Madden publicity.

I just do not see the positive impact this image has on pulling scores more people on the Madden hype train esp w no press release attached and now the underwheming news that only he will sport auhentic tats.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk

# 63 Cowboy008 @ 06/05/14 06:36 PM

That is disappointing that he will be the only one with authentic tattoos. I hope they didn't wasn't a lot of time on it since he is the only one with them. This also has me wondering will created players have generic tattoos that you can give them?

# 64 Brooke2011 @ 06/05/14 06:38 PM

It seems then that players in the nfl have dropped the ball on thier own likeness .......it is well known that players seek out thier video game counter part to see how they resemble them in real life. If this is true , then this falls on the players as much as EA for not lighting a fire sooner in securing the rights to implement the tattoos on as many players as possible before launch.

On another note. The lighting texture and player models are night and day from last year.....hoping of course that that pic is of actual in game footage and not rendered.

# 65 vpizzle28 @ 06/05/14 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brooke2011


	It seems then that players in the nfl have dropped the ball on thier own likeness .......it is well known that players seek out thier video game counter part to see how they resemble them in real life. If this is true , then this falls on the players as much as EA for not lighting a fire sooner in securing the rights to implement the tattoos on as many players as possible before launch. On another note. The lighting texture and player models are night and day from last year.....hoping of course that that pic is of actual in game footage and not rendered.

The EA Twitter team already said that is an in-game shot. They said more will be released soon.

# 66 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mf756193


	I am completely baffled at how the majority of you cannot comprehend this. The NBA, UFC, etc. has NO policy/rule that states a player must get their tattoo artist to sign a waiver in order for their tattoos to show up in a video game. However, the NFL requires this because they were sued in the past. This is 100% on the NFL and has nothing to do with EA Sports. Some of you need to take the time to read and do some research before blatantly ripping EA when they did not make this rule. The NFL is making sure they are not liable for any future litigation. A tattoo artist who inked up an NBA player could (if they wanted to) sue the NBA right now because they have no such rule in place. http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/10/385...attoos-in-2004

So what I take from this is that we should blame Ricky Williams for the cause of all of this? Had he not sued then the NFL would've never put this policy in place & we would've had tattoos in the game all along?

# 67 kehlis @ 06/05/14 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKSportsGamer1984


	So what I take from this is that we should blame Ricky Williams for the cause of all of this? Had he not sued then the NFL would've never put this policy in place & we would've had tattoos in the game all along?

You're take is very incorrect.

They got sued because of tattoos on Ricky Williams. Not by Ricky Williams.

# 68 SnakeEyez @ 06/05/14 07:01 PM

I agree with the quotes before me citing that if they can't get most or all of the tattoo "licensing" in... then just leave them out altogether. It's lame... but again EA doesn't care... their marketing dept. surely was handing out chest bumps and high fives from the net chatter Kaep's tat's created.

# 69 VTHokie525 @ 06/05/14 07:02 PM

So you're telling me 2k gets the permission from all of the players tattoo artists?

# 70 mestevo @ 06/05/14 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VTHokie525


	So you're telling me 2k gets the permission from all of the players tattoo artists?

There could be something involved with the licensing of those players that addresses it or 2k is simply taking a risk on regards to tattoos.

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# 71 RipCityAndy @ 06/05/14 07:10 PM

@VTHokie525

Three options:

1. Yes, for all original tattoos.
2. No, and the players either a) already have permission from their tattoo artists or b) own the IP themselves (see my previous post).
3. No, and they are liable for damages to the Copyright owner (see my previous post).

# 72 Iceman87GT @ 06/05/14 07:19 PM

I don't get the all or nothing argument for tattoos... You know what's more awkward than 1 player having tattoos and everyone else not? When a player with full sleeves like Kaepernick doesn't have any tattoos.

I can name 2 players who have tattoos that throw me off when I see them in Madden without them: Kaepernick, and Tom Crabtree (currently a Free Agent).

I am perfectly fine with Kaepernick being the only guy with Tattoos this year, and I don't think it will take me out of the moment if I were to see his represented and then everyone else with bare arms (because again I couldn't tell you what any other players' tattoos look like, or which players on the 9ers that have tattoos). I couldn't tell you who on my favorite team (the Packers) has tattoos, I know plenty of players do, but I couldn't single them out, or tell you what they look like (we haven't had a guy with sleeves since we opted not to re-sign Crabtree), nor could I tell you who on the Falcons does(local team, which means its who I watch whenever the Packers aren't playing in the same time-slot).

I hope they have generic tattoos for other players until they can secure the actual tattoo rights, but even if they don't I could care less.

I don't get why people are getting mad at EA/Madden for including the only player they have rights to. I mean Kaepernick spent the money to secure the rights for this express purpose and now you are advocating that EA ignore that because you think it would look awkward if he was properly represented in the game?

Lighten up! EA has actually stepper their game up (at least in the graphics department, hopefully in the gameplay as well), and you are getting angry about it?! They just can't win with some people.

# 73 SmashMan @ 06/05/14 07:19 PM

The (lack of?) reading comprehension is amazing to me. NBA2K has nothing to do with this. Neither does EA UFC, WWE, or any other sport with video game tattoos because we don't know how their specific companies and/or player unions have contracts structured.

We now know that the NFLPA has told the players to get their tattoo artists to sign off on having the tattoos reproduced before they will be in video games. That's it. It's on the player to get this issue taken care of if they choose to.

Maybe the Players Association needs to be more informative with the players about this, but in the meantime maybe people should tweet at their favorite players to ask if they can talk to their artists?

# 74 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	Y'all are really bit**ing about why they only have one players tattoos? Honestly? The fact that we now know they actually WANT to bring AUTHENTIC tattoos back should make everyone frickin scream and shout in excitement. This is why EA debs left this site lmao. @djordan ... just stop. 1. This isn't one of EA's halfassed efforts for once in our lifetime.. It isn't possible for it to be one, for the fact that Kaep is the ONLY person who cared to get this done in time for the game. And it also obviously isn't halfassed because they got every one of his tattoos that are visible during a game in..... 2. Why in the world would you rather wait another season for something like tattoos to be put in? Its not like its a new physics system that they built and midway said "ya know what? we can save this for next season" and stopped.. Tattoos are basically like new equipment being added in.. Did you complain when they added in only 4 DNA helmets or were you happy that you had new helmets to choose from?? GROW. UP.

Says the guy who says "we're all bit**ing"? So someone who doesn't share the same opinion as you is bit**ing but we're the ones who need to grow up? Gotcha.....

# 75 RipCityAndy @ 06/05/14 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmashMan


	The (lack of?) reading comprehension is amazing to me. NBA2K has nothing to do with this. Neither does EA UFC, WWE, or any other sport with video game tattoos because we don't know how their specific companies and/or player unions have contracts structured. We now know that the NFLPA has told the players to get their tattoo artists to sign off on having the tattoos reproduced before they will be in video games. That's it. It's on the player to get this issue taken care of if they choose to. Maybe the Players Association needs to be more informative with the players about this, but in the meantime maybe people should tweet at their favorite players to ask if they can talk to their artists?

Hey SmashMan. You're correct. We don't know anything about any of the other companies/unions (other than the NFLPA). The whole "tattoo as a copyright" issue is, however, still governed by the Copyright Act.

Your point is well taken - the direction the different games chose to proceed is based on business judgment.

# 76 DeuceDouglas @ 06/05/14 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman87GT


	I don't get the all or nothing argument for tattoos... You know what's more awkward than 1 player having tattoos and everyone else not? When a player with full sleeves like Kaepernick doesn't have any tattoos.

Or having like 100 players with tattoos so virtually every game has one or two guys with tattoos and the rest without. I mean, we're talking about almost 3000 players in the NFL. Who knows exactly how many are tatted, not to mention the amount of individual artists for any given player. I think we'll definitely see more next year but it all depends on how many players actually even care about their in-game likeness. While I do hope they have some generic tattoos in-game, I'm not expecting and nor would I really care if they did or didn't.

They obviously don't want to be sued again. An ESPN article also mentions that Warner Bros. was sued by Mike Tyson's tattoo artist because they used it in the Hangover 2. When I play my Chiefs franchise, I'll probably see Kaepernick once, maybe twice over the entirety of it so virtually nothing will be different.

# 77 SmashMan @ 06/05/14 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RipCityAndy


	Hey SmashMan. You're correct. We don't know anything about any of the other companies/unions (other than the NFLPA). The whole "tattoo as a copyright" issue is, however, still governed by the Copyright Act.

No doubt. Didn't want to imply that others were just ignoring that, but they may be more prepared or keep their players more informed than it appears the NFLPA has been.

# 78 MAGboyswifT27 @ 06/05/14 07:37 PM

Disappointing news..

# 79 moylan1234 @ 06/05/14 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman87GT


	I don't get the all or nothing argument for tattoos... You know what's more awkward than 1 player having tattoos and everyone else not? When a player with full sleeves like Kaepernick doesn't have any tattoos. I can name 2 players who have tattoos that throw me off when I see them in Madden without them: Kaepernick, and Tom Crabtree (currently a Free Agent). I am perfectly fine with Kaepernick being the only guy with Tattoos this year, and I don't think it will take me out of the moment if I were to see his represented and then everyone else with bare arms (because again I couldn't tell you what any other players' tattoos look like, or which players on the 9ers that have tattoos). I couldn't tell you who on my favorite team (the Packers) has tattoos, I know plenty of players do, but I couldn't single them out, or tell you what they look like (we haven't had a guy with sleeves since we opted not to re-sign Crabtree), nor could I tell you who on the Falcons does(local team, which means its who I watch whenever the Packers aren't playing in the same time-slot). I hope they have generic tattoos for other players until they can secure the actual tattoo rights, but even if they don't I could care less. I don't get why people are getting mad at EA/Madden for including the only player they have rights to. I mean Kaepernick spent the money to secure the rights for this express purpose and now you are advocating that EA ignore that because you think it would look awkward if he was properly represented in the game? Lighten up! EA has actually stepper their game up (at least in the graphics department, hopefully in the gameplay as well), and you are getting angry about it?! They just can't win with some people.

So one guy with full sleeves playing with and against 2,000 others who are completely blank won't throw off realism at all for you? to each his own I guess, but it will me. It's not about their specific tattoos either as I'm like you I don't know who has what exactly but I do know that several players have them scattered if I can't recreate that for every player in the game why would I want to for just one?

Like I said earlier think about dreadlocks or skin color even for that matter. Would it look right if one guy has dreads and the other 2,000 don't? or if one guy is blue and the other 2,000 purple? and in no way am I claiming this to be a game breaker on any level. it just doesn't look right to me and I question the decision unless we're able to edit in our own generics obviously.

# 80 victorkingchamp @ 06/05/14 07:42 PM

I don't care to join the legal discussion. The bottom line is:

The screen shot got me hype. The facts killed my hype.

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