EA Beds Down with the NFL
Arguably the world leader in sports video games, Electronic Arts struck a monopolistic contract to produce officially licensed games for the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Not only will this open up marketing possibilities (did someone say Super Bowl?) but it gives EA free reign in the NFL archives: video, documents, stats, the whole hundred yards.
EA has consistantly proven itself with quality games, specifically with the Madden series of football titles that have been technological achievements and player favorites for the last 16 years. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best however.
This year in particular had some heavy competition. Sega took a stab, priced less than half of Madden, with NFL 2K5. The game gave Madden a run for it’s money, literally forcing EA to drop it’s base price to compete, from $49.95 to $19.95. This lack of future competition raises some excellent questions however, like price gauging and game quality.
EA isn’t worried and neither is the NFL, but a quote from a Take Two Interactive spokesperson (ESPN 2K series, Grand Theft Auto series) not only reveals some tension between ESPN and the NFL, but raises a few points to gamers.
“We believe that the decisions of the National Football League and Players Inc. to grant an exclusive license for videogames do a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices.”
Interesting and makes sense, but being that ESPN already has video game ties with Take Two and Sega, this unnamed source may be lashing out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this erupt, or at least start some coughing and sputtering, between ESPN and the NFL over advertising and broadcast rights.
