My take on the whole anti EA thing is this: They're not the antichrist. They're not the only publisher to push their developers really hard with a heavy workload. They're not the only publisher that is willing to broker deals that could cripple competition. They're not the only publisher that likes to take a safe, sequel driven approach over creating original titles. But they are the biggest. They're big enough to have some influence over which direction the games industry should head. They're big enough that we gamers and other publishers should pay attention and shoulod be concerned.
I think some of you guys are giving the majority of gamers too much credit. I would love to believe that unlicensed pro football games with original teams and players would sell on the strengths of gameplay and production values on their own, but that's never gonna happen. I can use myself as an example. I will not buy Madden during the entire NFL exclusivity term. But even if a better non-NFL game comes along for me to play, I'll still be seething underneath at not being able to REALLY play as the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The appeal of the NFL license is that you can play as your favorite teams and players. You can run things the way you want. These are the same players you watch each Sunday and Monday, and you can now affect the outcome. Fictional teams might have been good enough in the NES days, but football games very much NFL simulations now. And fans love this stuff. And fans buy name brand. Football is so heavily North American, and other than the NFL, there don't seem to be any really compelling alternatives other than the NCAA.
As an aside, to the poster who said playing real football is where it's at and living vicariously through an NFL licensed game is silly, you're missing the point. First, most American gamers want to live vicariously through their favorite team. Second, millions of jocks and fans love playing real team and pickup games of football and also love playing Madden/ESPN NFL/etc. They're not mutually exclusive, and they're not the same. I've never played a real game of football with all the, skill, athlelticism, strategy, and violence as a real NFL game, and I never will. The video games and the real thing both offer unique things to me and can't replace each other.
In North America the EA Sports brand can make or break a console. What if EA were to bless one next gen console over all others, especially with the exclusive NFL rights? Let's say only Xbox Next gets EA Sports games. That means only Xbox next owners can play NFL, NASCAR, PGA, and FIFA games. The competition would basically be doomed barring a miracle. They also own Criterion and RenderWare now. What if EA decided that RenderWare revenue was nice, but it would be in their best interests to longer license it to others and as a result handicap them. That wouldn't affect everyone obviously, but tons of teams do use RenderWare. Hell the modern GTA incarnations are made with RenderWare.
What really bugs me about EA is how successful they are considering that at a fundamental level, I don't believe they really respect their audience. I look at their often odd choices for trendy licensed music, whether or not it actually fits the game, the way the EA Trax "feature" is forced down your throat to create artist awareness at the expense of seeing vital information on the screen. I look at the poorly realized way they're filling so much of their stuff faux "street" lifestyle marketing. Christ, look at NFS: Underground 2 or the Urbz for some recent examples. Or take another look at NFS: Underground 2 for the level of crass marketing EA is willing to jam into a single game. A little advertising creates realism and helps sell products. Too much advertising reminds me that the producers think gamers are just trend focused zombies with wallets.
The bottom line is I understand EA's business decisions as being shrewd and savvy on their behalf. But given their weight, they can have both negative and positive impact on the industry. And I've seen a little too much negative influence lately.