NFL to be Madden-exclusive

[HBox]

EA enters into exclusive agreement with NFL and NFLPA. (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1945691)

Fuck EA. I'm not buying Madden just out of principle now. I just hope Sega doesn't give up on their football games. I'm sure there will be fan-made downloads to make up for this garbage.

[Fallon]

This is good for me since I love Madden (just fixed my scratch, so I can play online again!). But it's bad for the buisness. I have faith that Madden will be good every year, but it was good to have ESPN on their ass.

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[Snoogans]

madden needs to add drug suspensions and it would have everything

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The worst choke job in the history of sports Snoogans 1, Monitor 0

[Fallon]

Snoogs, does that count people who play online? Cause you'd be suspended indefinitely.

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[mdr55]

This shit blows.What happened to having choices. I'll admit that I love Madden Football but I also like NFL2K. I'll guess they'll have to focus on College football now.

[HBox]

This is nothing but bad for us. First of all, do you think the $19.95 price point for ESPN2K5 will have any impact now on Madden's pricing now? Do you honestly think next years Madden will retail for anything less than $49.99? Do you think the price will drop from there anytime before the end of the season? Hell no. EA had to drop Madden's price to $29.99 this year to stay ahead of ESPN, but now they just made sure they can charge whatever the hell they please for the next 5 years.

And I suppose it's possible that Madden will continue to be improved despite no competition. But how much money do you really think EA will spend on developing Madden when they have an essential monopoly on the genre and just spent all this money on this agreement?

EDIT: I was going to buy Madden next year. I bought ESPN this year and thought it was better, but all my friends play Madden online and I wanted to join back in next year. Besides, they're both great games; there's not a huge difference in quality. But now there's no way in hell I'm buying Madden.[/font][/color][/size]

This message was edited by HBox on 12-13-04 @ 10:26 PM

[Fallon]

EA Sports: It's the the Game... Only our Game

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[Snoogans]

And I suppose it's possible that Madden will continue to be improved despite no competition. But how much money do you really think EA will spend on developing Madden when they have an essential monopoly on the genre and just spent all this money on this agreement?

alot. they are EA, they dont wanna piss off the millions of customers, and madden is the bread and butter. i can see if they had other equal revenue sources, but madden makes them far more than anything else, so they will always make that as best they can.

you dont fuck with a winner


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[GodsFavoriteMan]

Until this exclusive license deal is over, not only am I not going to buy another Madden game, I'm not going to buy another EA game. This is totally fucked, and goddamn near a monopoly.

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[TheKnicks23]

Fucking Nazis. Why doesn't EA just go ahead and release a console? They seem to be able to do whatever they want, and still sell the hell out of anything. Regardless of quality, people eat their games up.

Burnout 3 is the only game they've released this generation that is anything to me. And its technically not even an EA game. Their enormous wallet bought up Critierion.

This is disgusting. Boycott EA.

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[Fallon]

Until this exclusive license deal is over, not only am I not going to buy another Madden game, I'm not going to buy another EA game. This is totally fucked, and goddamn near a monopoly.
Nobody complains that they also have exclusive rights to NASCAR, PGA and FIFA. It's no different than THQ having the exclusive rights to WWE.

ESPN has money up the ass, they could have matched it, but chose not to.

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This message was edited by WWFallon on 12-14-04 @ 4:34 AM

[GodsFavoriteMan]

Nobody complains that they also have exclusive rights to NASCAR, PGA and FIFA. It's no different than THQ having the exclusive rights to WWE.

ESPN has money up the ass, they could have matched it, but chose not to.

First of all, Take Two Interactive makes the game as a division of Sega. Sega pays ESPN for the license. ESPN wouldn't bother competing with EA.

It's not right that NASCAR, PGA, and FIFA (though I thought Winning 11 had the FIFA teams--could be wrong, never played it) should be exclusive, but on the other hand, there wasn't much competition for those names to begin with (a mistake considering how popular--why?--NASCAR has become).

And THQ does have an exclusive deal with the WWE, and that helps prove a point. The games are very inconsistant, but none of them have been as good as back in the N64 days. Quality doesn't matter when there's no competition. And WWE fans, like NFL fans, are so rabid, they'll gobble the games up anyway, rather than demanding quality.

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[Fallon]

Ha!

Madden 2006 Cover (http://students.uat.edu/ryamccab/images/madden2006.jpg)

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This message was edited by WWFallon on 12-14-04 @ 1:26 PM

[gypsy]

"This contract should allow EA to eliminate competition in the pro football category, hold premium pricing next year and raise prices for the next console cycle," Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson wrote in a research note


The competition next year.

Washington: #8 throws and incomplete pass, that was intended for #80.

This message was edited by gypsy on 12-14-04 @ 2:40 PM

[Jack_Doff]

Boo to the NFL. Didn't ESPN bend over for them and take Playmakers off the air because the NFL was complaining that Playmakers was giving them a bad reputation? Now they cut ESPN out of video football? Dick move I think.

[IamFogHat]

Some things just make my blood boil.

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The Dude abides

[sleepyeyed_Jynx]

I hope they don't do the same thing with the NBA becuase NBA Live 2005 blows gorilla nuts. I mean, the dunk contest is fun and all, but the gameplay is as deep as a puddle. It's too friggin easy and cheap as hell when it comes to strategies. NBA 2K5 is damn near the real thing. The graphics are beautiful, even on the PS2, and the computer is a bitch on a defense.

If they do this with the NBA as well, I'll keep my PS2 even when PS3 comes out and play 2K5 for the rest of my life.

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[TheKnicks23]

EA just bought 20% of Ubisoft which makes them the majority owners.

This is just disgusting. Who's next? Rockstar? Capcom? Koonami? Wait until they put our their own console and completely take over the gaming industry.

Downfall #2 is on its way.

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This message was edited by WWFallon on 2-24-05 @ 4:12 PM

[HBox]

Guess what, EA's trying to do the same thing with the NBA. The NBA has shot them down so far. (http://sports.ign.com/articles/574/574539p1.html)



Who lives in a body bag under the sea?

[JustJon]

There were years where other companies have had the NFL license and there were no NFL teams, but the Madden franchise survived.

There's also talk of Madden not renewing his contract with EA once the current one ends.

But the best part is NFL Blitz can go back to being the fun, violent, arcadey game that it was with 2005's Blitz: Playmakers

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[Fallon]

It wouldn't hurt EA if Madden left now that they're the only game with the NFL. Theirs really nothing he can add to the game anymore except his name. NFL 2006 would work just fine.

I hope you can smoke crack during halftime in Playmakers.

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[Fallon]

EA fucking owns football.

EA Securing NCAA Exclusivity? (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138341)

EA Signs Arena League (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3137695)

ESPN and Electronic Arts Team Up (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3137794)

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This message was edited by WWFallon on 2-24-05 @ 4:11 PM

[JustJon]

And don't forget the companies that are just bailing on their football games now. (Sega? 989? XSN? I'm blanking which one(s))

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