AnthonyVolpe Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/18/news_6098784.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickle Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Wow, that both sucks and blows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Holy crap. $250 million per year!?! Is that even economically feasable? That's like $5 million $50 games if every cent from the sale of each game went directly to the NFLPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I can't believe this to be true... unless EA were planning on putting out 3 or 4 different games each year using the NFL license. This would also end my hopes for another Tecmo Bowl.....NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 If true, could it be worth it to EA to blow insane amounts of cash for a couple of years to basically assure that their one prime rival is completely out of the game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 This, to me, seems slightly ridiculous. I know Madden earns a boatload of money, but does it earn THAT much? Besides which, Madden handily dispatches the competition year after year, so why would EA start sweating over it now anyway? Reeks of the dockyards to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 The two month's NPD stats that showed up on a quick search (April and October) both show about $20M-$30M as the top-end of your average game sale. Does someone with access to better stats know how much non-EA NFL games even sell put together in a year? I'd not expect it to be even $100M, let alone 2.5 times that. And both EB and EA will want some kind of margin on that figure, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Pardon the language, but I think this article has way more bullshit than Gamespot can shovel. -Dean- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bryan Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I find it hard to believe as well. That is just too much money. Sammy seems to be crapping all over Sega anyway - why would EA feel the need to do this now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Another factor to consider is what this deal would do in terms of inflating licensing fees in general. NFL players ultimately get some amount of money for having their likeness and name represented in a game. I would assume that amount is likely to increase by grand proportions under this deal. What are the agents of baseball players going to think when they see this deal? How about the NHL, NBA, PGA, Jean Reno? They're all going to expect more money for future games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Good point. If you were the NBA, and you saw this, how much are you going to want to milk EA for their license for next year? Same with FIFA, and so on. Speaking of FIFA, the lack of a license from them doesn't seem to do too much damage to the glory that is Pro Evolution Soccer, so I'm not quite sure why Sega should even care that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Speaking of FIFA, the lack of a license from them doesn't seem to do too much damage to the glory that is Pro Evolution Soccer, so I'm not quite sure why Sega should even care that much. I think it does hinder PES to a small degree, and the US market is very different to Europe. US sports games push the realism factor much more & thus must have the real names/faces/stats etc. I think a non-branded American Football game would suffer because of its lack of licence. I can't believe this to be true... unless EA were planning on putting out 3 or 4 different games each year using the NFL license. They currently put out two a year - Madden & NFL Street. NFL Street is a new franchise, but will be coming out yearly, I believe. It's sold 1 million cross platform so far. Madden has sold over 4.5 million copies of the 2003 releases. I suspect the $1 billion figure quoted isn't actual hard cash but is instead dependent on copies sold by EA as a large component of the deal will likely be royalty based. So if EA beat their most optimistic projections, the organisation will get $1billion over the lifetime of the deal. I sincerely doubt EA are about to hand over $1 billion in cash etc when they don't have that kind of money in the bank. It's a smart move by EA - a four year deal will lock them into being the exclusive NFL branded game for the first few years of the next generation. [added] It should be noted that the value is coming purely from the news source, there's no hard facts yet to back it up: The Journal set the price tag of the deal at $250 million each year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark E Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I think a non-branded American Football game would suffer because of its lack of licence. Shame really, I still have fond memories of those Blades of Steel type games with the generi-teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 After a little bit of digging around, this link surfaced: Webmaster of ESPNVideogames asks NFLPA about it - he calls, they call back, they deny it's an exclusive deal & say the Sports Journal story is bollocks, to paraphrase... Clay Walker the VP of players agreements called me and confirmed that the story reported was misquoted by ESPN the rag. The license deal was for MADDEN and NFL Street and is the same deal all the companys get. EA is not working a deal for exclusive rights... Of course, that's far from a categorical denial, and something could still be in the works, but I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 suspect the $1 billion figure quoted isn't actual hard cash but is instead dependent on copies sold by EA as a large component of the deal will likely be royalty based. So if EA beat their most optimistic projections, the organisation will get $1billion over the lifetime of the deal. I sincerely doubt EA are about to hand over $1 billion in cash etc when they don't have that kind of money in the bank. Now, if the story is legit, this would seem like the much more likely scenario, with the $1 Billion pleateu being more symbolic than realistic. But I still think this story is either Bs or blown way out of whack. I suspect that over at EA they are getting either a good laugh at this or they are rolling thier eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Shame really, I still have fond memories of those Blades of Steel type games with the generi-teams. I know what you mean. Everyone wants to see the tat's on Allen Iverson's arms. Good grief. Just give me a great sports game, I don't care if Bob Smith is the star running back. Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 If true, this begs the question whether in 10 years or so EA could be facing anti-competition lawsuits of the sort Microsoft lost a few years back. Buying exclusive rights to official NFL players really would be a death-blow to ESPN football. It's a fairly blatant attack on the competition, IMO. All of this subject to the story actually being true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTello Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 -How does this relate to the old EA NHLPA back in what,... 1993, I think? *tangent* -Man NHLPA, that was a classic hockey game, even if it lacked the offical NHL support. The blood oozing ojn the ice rocked! I played it a couple of years ago, and it was painfully slow,... I was like, "how on earth did I put up with this?" It felt like the players were skating through frozen molasses. *off tangent* Anyway, is there a precedent associated with that old EA title, and does it have any reference to how this could be handled? I just don't know any history of that game and the circumstances surrounding the licensing issues that arose with it. Anyone remember anything about that game and the issues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foogledricks Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 In a previous thread I stated my concern for no longer having anything to complain about now that EA was supporting XBlive. I am happy to say that I am so BACK BABY! I am almost happy if this is true, just so I can complain about it. My demented glee aside, if this is true, which I am sure it isn't, EA would be guilty of anti-competitive behavior, and I would be happy to see the US government split them up into tiny EA baby bells. EAsports, EAbig, and EAgames would become three separate companies. That would be fine with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 EA would be guilty of anti-competitive behavior Why? Plenty of companies licence out their properties exclusively in all sorts of ways, and this would be just another. Just because you don't like the company involved doesn't make it anti-competitive. I didn't see you bitching when Sony signed the exclusive FIA deal preventing EA from releasing its Formula 1 games with the proper branding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Gamespot reports that the Sports Business Journal ran a retraction. -j Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Is it me, or does it seem like there has been a lot more bullshit being reported in the gaming industy lately? -Dean- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 more bullshit being reported in the gaming industy lately? I think it has something to do with the tides. Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foogledricks Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Just because you don't like the company involved doesn't make it anti-competitive. I've been attacked by a pack of dogberts again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts