EA buys ESPN License, Takes Huge Dump on Visual Concepts

[quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='GameDude']Maybe Sega will pick up the Madden license...it's not like EA needs it anymore.[/quote]

What and have 22 John Maddens playing football all the while announcing the game, too, with obvious insights on what's going on in the game.[/quote]

"BOOM!! Extra strength Tinactin..."
 
How is this different from them inking deals with Sporting News and Sports Illustrated from years past? And ABC and ESPN are under the same ownership so it's not the end of the Madden name exactly. ESPN typically whores itself out to whomever gives them some profit and it's been this way forever. Technically I think NHL 2k2 was better than 2k5 except for graphics. So personally I could give a crap about the ESPN Presentation, as long as a game is still there. Oh and as for EA being lazy because of the hold on the market. Previous to the Dreamcast & Visual Concepts they had no one even considered close to being an equal and they didn't take it easy during that stretch.
 
Well before I was simply angry at EA now I absolutely hate them.

They have definitely lost a customer in me.
 
[quote name='DocBledsoe'][quote name='cthcky33'][quote name='DocBledsoe'][quote name='Cornfedwb']What a bunch of asswipes.. trying to remove their competition and do everything necessary to produce a better profit. :roll:

I realize we may not like the fact that we'll no longer be able to buy Sega's $20 NFL game and be forced to buy EA's $50 Madden game (if we want to play the newest NFL game that is)... but its good business people. They are not evil, they are not assholes, they're smart, period.[/quote]

I agree. You're a bunch of 'asswipes'.[/quote]

have fun paying at least $59.99 for your new madden, and paying to play online and paying for roster updates and god knows what else. where do you think the money for all this licensing is gonna come from?? if they are gonna pour all this money into getting exclusive licenses, they are gonna have to make there money back by raising prices[/quote]

The week after launch it's always 34.99 or less at Frys.[/quote]

Even if that is so, this is a moot point. You are the one who myke just was talking about. If you are pre-ordering Madden '06 tonight after work, Fry's has nothing to do with it a week after launch. You are nothing more than a contradiction of your own former posts.
 
[quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='defiance_17'][quote name='SadieDee']I found a list of games that EA has published and developed.

http://games.ign.com/objects/025/025025.html?fromint=1[/quote]

Quite unimpressive, overall.[/quote]

Actually, that list is missing a few dozen titles. Whoever compiled it only appears to have made a real effort on recent console stuff. There are tons of items missing that were highly influential.

More importantly, so what? EA has always been a publisher first. That was what the company was founded to be. Their model was the recording industry in the days when vinyl was still the primary medium. Their early releases were in record alsbum style packaging for this reason.[/quote]

I think they don't include games who's publishers don't have names starting with EA. So there's plenty of games missing from the list.[/quote]

Fellow CAGers, I'd like to introduce you to my good friend, http://www.allgame.com/ I know you'll get along swimmingly.

I'm with everyone else, in that I much prefer Sega's NBA games to Live. I've felt that way since 2K1, and have tried to say as much in my reviews.
 
[quote name='Nephets']But, I love ESPN NBA games... And I hate Live! :evil:[/quote]

Did you love the ones Konami made too? They aren't ESPN's games...ESPN simply attaches it's name to the product to make quick money. You'll probably be able to buy the same game just without some played out sportscaster from Sportscenter doing the same highlight reel over and over again. If you care about the gameplay you'll still be able to have it...for the time being.
 
[quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='defiance_17'][quote name='SadieDee']I found a list of games that EA has published and developed.

http://games.ign.com/objects/025/025025.html?fromint=1[/quote]

Quite unimpressive, overall.[/quote]

Actually, that list is missing a few dozen titles. Whoever compiled it only appears to have made a real effort on recent console stuff. There are tons of items missing that were highly influential.

More importantly, so what? EA has always been a publisher first. That was what the company was founded to be. Their model was the recording industry in the days when vinyl was still the primary medium. Their early releases were in record alsbum style packaging for this reason.[/quote]

I think they don't include games who's publishers don't have names starting with EA. So there's plenty of games missing from the list.[/quote]

No, it's missing very well known games that carried solely the EA name for publication including much of the original batch from that the marketing campaign that launched the company. Archon is missing for almost all platforms while Archon II is only listed on a fraction of the systems where it appeared. Pinball Construction Set? Murder on the Zinderneuf?

And other entries are just wrong. Cadash and Shadow of the Beast for TurboGrafx? I don't think so. Plus there are games like Realm of Impossibility that are placed in both categories. About two dozen Amiga games are missing. Battlechess, developed and published by Interplay is listed. The list isn't very accurate.
 
[quote name='epobirs'][quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='defiance_17'][quote name='SadieDee']I found a list of games that EA has published and developed.

http://games.ign.com/objects/025/025025.html?fromint=1[/quote]

Quite unimpressive, overall.[/quote]

Actually, that list is missing a few dozen titles. Whoever compiled it only appears to have made a real effort on recent console stuff. There are tons of items missing that were highly influential.

More importantly, so what? EA has always been a publisher first. That was what the company was founded to be. Their model was the recording industry in the days when vinyl was still the primary medium. Their early releases were in record alsbum style packaging for this reason.[/quote]

I think they don't include games who's publishers don't have names starting with EA. So there's plenty of games missing from the list.[/quote]

No, it's missing very well known games that carried solely the EA name for publication including much of the original batch from that the marketing campaign that launched the company. Archon is missing for almost all platforms while Archon II is only listed on a fraction of the systems where it appeared. Pinball Construction Set? Murder on the Zinderneuf?

And other entries are just wrong. Cadash and Shadow of the Beast for TurboGrafx? I don't think so. Plus there are games like Realm of Impossibility that are placed in both categories. About two dozen Amiga games are missing. Battlechess, developed and published by Interplay is listed. The list isn't very accurate.[/quote]

I believe IGN might not have those games in their database since they rely on other people to e-mail them about games that are missing.
 
[quote name='Cornfedwb']They are not evil, they are not assholes, they're smart, period.[/quote]

There is no exclusive relationship between the three. EA is, in fact, all three of those at the same time.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']How is this different from them inking deals with Sporting News and Sports Illustrated from years past? And ABC and ESPN are under the same ownership so it's not the end of the Madden name exactly. ESPN typically whores itself out to whomever gives them some profit and it's been this way forever. Technically I think NHL 2k2 was better than 2k5 except for graphics. So personally I could give a crap about the ESPN Presentation, as long as a game is still there. Oh and as for EA being lazy because of the hold on the market. Previous to the Dreamcast & Visual Concepts they had no one even considered close to being an equal and they didn't take it easy during that stretch.[/quote]

Simple: when they had the exclusives with SI and the Sporting News, there was competition in the industry. Now, there won't be other football games, or there won't be any that can sell enough copies to legitimately compete.
 
My thinking is that next year's football game (2006) will be titled ESPN Madden NFL Football 2006 and then the year after that they wwill drop the Madden (to save money of having to pay royalties to Madden) and just be ESPN football.
 
Yay!!!

EA tightens it's grip on the sports genre!!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOO

$80 games here we come!!!!!

And don't anyone say anything bad about EA. They are a just an innocent little business trying to make their way in the gaming industry. Nothing they do can ever harm the state of gaming so let's just ignore them and flame all the people with common sense who actually want to stop them.

:roll:
 
[quote name='jrutz']I wonder - could EA be in breach of contract with this agreement? I bet we'll start seeing some lawsuits on Sega/Take Two's part that their contract with ESPN was terminated unlawfully.

Oh, and to think EA is going after Sega - maybe Sega needs to concentrate on making better games and not letting their sports series dominate their consumer base (they have Japan, remember)...

Jeremy[/quote]


Well, the statement said the agreement would commence at the end of the current SEGA/ESPN contract, so how could they sue? They couldn't...
 
Wait a minute. If EA dumps Madden can't Sega pick him up and make a totally new football game (innovative). That will surely piss off EA and will confuse a whole lotta people
 
[quote name='Gothic_Walrus'][quote name='Duo_Maxwell']How is this different from them inking deals with Sporting News and Sports Illustrated from years past? And ABC and ESPN are under the same ownership so it's not the end of the Madden name exactly. ESPN typically whores itself out to whomever gives them some profit and it's been this way forever. Technically I think NHL 2k2 was better than 2k5 except for graphics. So personally I could give a crap about the ESPN Presentation, as long as a game is still there. Oh and as for EA being lazy because of the hold on the market. Previous to the Dreamcast & Visual Concepts they had no one even considered close to being an equal and they didn't take it easy during that stretch.[/quote]

Simple: when they had the exclusives with SI and the Sporting News, there was competition in the industry. Now, there won't be other football games, or there won't be any that can sell enough copies to legitimately compete.[/quote]

That has nothing to do with them dealing with ESPN. And if there are no other football titles I don't care, Madden has always been the best IMO.
 
I can't believe how worked up some of you are getting about this. Ultimately, EA is in business to MAKE MONEY. To that end, an exclusive NFL license and the ESPN license enable them to have a better opportunity to do that.

A great many of you are such frauds, it's hilarious. If you really don't agree with EA and their business practices, boycott them completely. It's a joke to say that "I'll just buy this game or that game used" If you are so allegedly pissed about their practice, don't buy them at all...
 
[quote name='Tecumseh!']I can't believe how worked up some of you are getting about this. Ultimately, EA is in business to MAKE MONEY. To that end, an exclusive NFL license and the ESPN license enable them to have a better opportunity to do that.

A great many of you are such frauds, it's hilarious. If you really don't agree with EA and their business practices, boycott them completely. It's a joke to say that "I'll just buy this game or that game used" If you are so allegedly pissed about their practice, don't buy them at all...[/quote]

There is a reason they say that....
EA makes no money off of the sales of a used game. They don't want to cut thier nose off to spite thier face, so they're going to try and send a message to EA by not purchasing the game new.
Despite some morally abhorrent behavior and questionable business practices, there are some development teams inside the corporate behemoth that actually know how to make a good game.
In the eyes of EA, buying the game used is just like not buying it at all...
which is why in the early days of videogames, the companies were dead set against game rentals and used sales.
 
This sucks. Plain and simple. EA is a monopoly. Its sad and scary at the same time. (Yes, I know its good business, but EA is becoming a monopoly! Monopolies are BAD!!)
 
Watch, VC makes NLF (national League of Football) game and then make all the players like this, ray lewis would be rahy lewhis....
 
[quote name='Tecumseh!']I can't believe how worked up some of you are getting about this. Ultimately, EA is in business to MAKE MONEY. To that end, an exclusive NFL license and the ESPN license enable them to have a better opportunity to do that.

A great many of you are such frauds, it's hilarious. If you really don't agree with EA and their business practices, boycott them completely. It's a joke to say that "I'll just buy this game or that game used" If you are so allegedly pissed about their practice, don't buy them at all...[/quote]

How would EA benefit from my purchasing a game used? They make money off of new sales and new sales only.

If I can't find Rogue Agent used, then tough shit for me. I don't see how it makes me a fraud.

I hope you're a shareholder of EA, since you seem to be cheerleading them in making their business decisions. What many of you fail to recognize is basic Marxist philosophy. A company is profitable to the extent that it minimizes what it provides to its laborers in terms of remuneration, and a company is profitable to the extent that it convinces the consumers that recurring purchases are a necessity.

I dare you to tell me EA doesn't fit that mold like a glove.

If you want to applaud a company for its brilliant business practices (which include, but are not limited to, failing to pay workers for overtime, providing innumerable games every year that cost the same as a new title, yet are 60-80% old code, and strongarming its competition into oblivion by securing licenses for itself), then by all means, go ahead an do.

Hooray for overworked and underpaid workers!

Hooray for those of you who reserved this game tonight! I hope you feel righteous for paying $50 for a game which you paid $50 for last year!

Hooray for eliminating competition the old-fashioned way: contracts and boardroom negotiations!

Hooray for eliminating the consumer as an active participant in this minutiae of the economy!

myke.
 
[quote name='AzN_BaLLeR']So uhhh... Sega will still make NBA right?[/quote]

Well... yeah... unless EA waves enough money in the NBA's face. Which WILL happen. It's only a matter of time.
 
This is just crap. What is there left for EA to buy out?

[quote name='RedvsBlue']My thinking is that next year's football game (2006) will be titled ESPN Madden NFL Football 2006 and then the year after that they wwill drop the Madden (to save money of having to pay royalties to Madden) and just be ESPN football.[/quote]
If they really wanted to throw people off (and the Madden name was to be dropped in favor of the ESPN name), it should be titled ESPN NFL 2006 -- no, wait, throw a "K" in there and really send consumers in a daze -- ESPN NFL 2K6.

I know it's all business and whatnot, but it doesn't mean us as gamers have to abide by it. This just flat-out sucks.
 
[quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='Scrubking']Everyone who is against EA don't forget to vote HERE!!![/quote]

Man are you ever crying for attention to try to get your way. :roll:[/quote]

Crying for attention?

I'm not the one who keeps following me around flaming me and can't bring up a single valid argument. So shut the fuck up and go back to wacking off to an EA game.

There I responded to your dumb ass flames. Are you happy now? Did I give you the attention you needed?
 
It doesn't appear that anyone else has mentioned this, but the Fox Sports license is available. Granted it's not as popular as ESPN, but hey, something is better than nothing.
 
[quote name='Scrubking'][quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='Scrubking']Everyone who is against EA don't forget to vote HERE!!![/quote]

Man are you ever crying for attention to try to get your way. :roll:[/quote]

Crying for attention?

I'm not the one who keeps following me around flaming me and can't bring up a single valid argument. So shut the shaq-fu up and go back to wacking off to an EA game.

There I responded to your dumb ass flames. Are you happy now? Did I give you the attention you needed?[/quote]

You haven't shown one single piece of proof to back up your claims that EA will charge $80 for Madden 06. Then, you move to this thread and tell everyone to vote in your stupid poll because they hate EA, which isn't really what the topic is about. I'm not an EA fanboy, but I am a fanboy of good games, and since Madden is a good game IMO, then I play it.

See? He gave up because he has no info to back up his point. He's just a raving mad lunatic out to make everyone agree with him to prove a point.
 
[quote name='Scrubking'][quote name='CrashSpyro123'][quote name='Scrubking']Everyone who is against EA don't forget to vote HERE!!![/quote]

Man are you ever crying for attention to try to get your way. :roll:[/quote]

Crying for attention?

I'm not the one who keeps following me around flaming me and can't bring up a single valid argument. So shut the shaq-fu up and go back to wacking off to an EA game.

There I responded to your dumb ass flames. Are you happy now? Did I give you the attention you needed?[/quote]

Well I would hope your not following yourself around. Then you would look even more silly than you do now.
 
What Sega needs to do is: after the NHL lockout is done, be the first to knock on their doors and get exclusive rights to the NHL name. why? For one, the NHL is struggling for funds and would definitely need the ca$h. And two, it would be something (not much..but something) in Sega’s back pocket. Then, EA would have the NFL, Sega would have the NHL, and it would be a draw between NBA and MLB licenses.
Next, Sega needs to approach FOX for the rights to put out their games. If they did maybe the hockey cover could look like this (sorry for the low quality, I rushed it): http://tinypic.com/1dzl2t
Like I said earlier, if they got the NHL license it would be much but for Sega it would at least be a start.
 
[quote name='muncle']let's just hope that ea decides to release the espn games at 19.99[/quote]

Yeah, when hell freezes over, Satan moves to Utah and becomes a mormon.
 
[quote name='Scrubking'][quote name='muncle']let's just hope that ea decides to release the espn games at 19.99[/quote]

Yeah, when hell freezes over, Satan moves to Utah and becomes a mormon.[/quote] :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
damn ea is buying everything, even my cpu is named Ea and my ISP is Ea, mcdonalds has been renamed to Electronic Arts, and crap gotta go EA just bought my town and has kicked me out of my house, darn
 
A lot of you had a intelligent comments about this deal. Myke comes to mind more so then anyone else. This comes as another blow to the games industry as a whole. I can't see where one company owning or dominating everything would be a good thing. I've prefered the "2K" series to the "EA" games for quite some time now. I liked the use or Mr. Berman on NFL, and Stuart Scott on NBA, and while they will be missed, it's not the end of the world. The "2K" games will still be quality games. Only thing that scares me is EA trying to wave around money for the rights to the NBA, NHL & MLB. And, those that say it can't happen, it can. Remember, everyone has their price...

I'll continue my boycott of EA(I haven't purchased a single EA game used or NEW), and I'll continue it further by not selling/trading an EA game or purchasing one as a gift for another. Best way to hit them is in the pocketbooks. They've gone and bought up the NFL rights, ESPN rights, and trying to take over Ubisoft, so they can run Splinter Cell into the ground. I wish Capcom, Konami, etc. would make a stand here somewhere. I can't believe how any company(I mean ANY) could be allowed to purchase the rights to something for 5-15 years. Hopefully this bites ESPN and NFL in the ass, when they see less money, consumer backlash or other problems arise.

In a related note, this could be interesting... Sales of EA games over the holidays down 4%. "This relationship was created to benefit consumers who are passionate about sports games," said Larry Probst, Electronic Arts Chairman and CEO." - That should read "This relationship was created so we can put the competition out of business, because we all know are games sure as hell couldn't compete on their own merits. We don't really care about sports gamers or any gamers for that matter. We care about the almighty $."

The guy or gal who posted above has one disturbing picture there...
 
http://dx.ampednews.com/?page=articles&id=8699

Did everyone notice this little slice as well, or were we all watching the NFL license acquistion too closely? Talk about smokescreens- HoudEAni.

rat bastards- I am refusing to sell EA products to my customers from now on. Screw the bastards. Their going to mess with all of this, and THEN the same company that made BG&E, as well as the PoP games?! Bugg 'em to hell.

I also want to note another facet that may or may not have shone as yet. Now, EA also landed about 100-200$M in advertising deals for the next five years. They now have all these licenses and franchises. They have more money coming in than will ever go out. What ever investment they put into their stronger titles, they have gauranteed at least an 80% return. That's MASSIVE by most analysts standards. Yet, they have announced no plans to reduce costs. No plans to step up development. No plans, basically, to benefit the end user. They are sucking all of this money up from these inumerable agreements, as well as the consumer, and are giving nothing back for it.

Fortunately, videogaming is a very fickle field, as the audience changes weekly. A lot of people have said boycotting affects few, if any. Really, it pulls a lot of strings. Example- let's say you 'pirate' 2 million copies of a game (this is not a pro-piracy example- follow me here). You just sucked and redistributed on average of $100,000,000 straight from EA- they get no profit from that. So, let's suppose 2M people boycott EA. In 2 games (or at least, if 2M games are boycotted over a year), they've lost that amount of money. That's a message to them, because that's half of what they got from an advertising contract for 5 years. Long story short, if this amount of games are boycotted for 5 years straight, they loose upwinds of $300M in this model. Average game dev cost: $2-$8M, plus data medium, packaging, and advertising.

Either way, companies try to copy the other guy, and, after this, I'll be very happy to get a copy of SRS, or, lower myself to get a pre-played EA title if necessary. Yet, the sales performance of even the pre-playeds are still tracked, though. EB, Gamestop, and even Blockbuster/GameRush report their pre-played (as well as rentals, in the case of the latter) sales quarterly, highlighting highest and lowest moving titles. These are public info that developers check to see if there is possibly latent interest in a project. While a game may not jump originally, if the used volume moves quickly, they'll kick around the idea of another in that series. Simple matter of knowing that the original volume had to be purchased at some point.

Fight the bEAst!
-The_K
 
[quote name='starboyk']http://dx.ampednews.com/?page=articles&id=8699

Did everyone notice this little slice as well, or were we all watching the NFL license acquistion too closely? Talk about smokescreens- HoudEAni.

rat bastards- I am refusing to sell EA products to my customers from now on. Screw the bastards. Their going to mess with all of this, and THEN the same company that made BG&E, as well as the PoP games?! Bugg 'em to hell.[/quote]

Nope, it's been posted and discussed a few times here. Nothing has come of the Ubi Soft thing and there's nothing to suggest otherwise. Not selling EA games to customers is not the best way to go about it, as they should be allowed to buy anything they want.
 
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