MLB 2K Series On The Ropes. May Be Up For Cancellation.

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http://kotaku.com/5912483/major-league-baseball-2ks-cancellation-is-confirmed

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, notably left Major League Baseball 2K out of its planned releases in its coming fiscal year in a call with investors today. Kotaku asked Take-Two Interactive if it could confirm the end of the series, and it released this statement:

"Our legacy Major League Baseball agreement will sunset in fiscal 2013," a Take-Two spokesman said, meaning in the coming 12 calendar months. "MLB 2K12 is our last offering under that agreement. At this time, we have no further comment."

While that language would seem to leave open the possibility for a new agreement, in a conference call with investors today, Take-Two said it expects the losses associated with the game to be 50 percent less in the coming fiscal year, and zeroed out in the one after that, strongly indicating the expiration of the series.

Kotaku asked directly if Take-Two or 2K Sports was in any discussion to extend its agreement and did not receive any answer. MLB 2K was not on its list of anticipated releases for the coming fiscal year, mimicking the quiet deaths shown to 2K Sports' NHL and College Hoops series.

Take-Two's seven-year pact with Major League Baseball, a deal cut by a previous management regime, was believed to cost the company $30 million dollars as the series never found consistent critical or commercial success.

Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick had long indicated that the company would not renew the deal with MLB, calling it a money-loser the company had no interest in. The company's strategy, increasingly, is to produce high quality offerings on franchises it wholly owns, and MLB 2K represented neither.

The move means NBA 2K—which Take-Two said by itself made 2K Sports profitable in the past fiscal year—is 2K Sports' only remaining annual sports title. The label published Top Spin, a tennis simulation, in 2011 but it was never an annual series.

It also means there could be no Major League Baseball simulation title for the Xbox 360 next year. 2K Sports had the exclusive rights to develop and publish third-party console games. This effectively made it the exclusive title on the 360, as Microsoft did not publish its own game. Sony produces its own for the PlayStation line, the acclaimed MLB The Show.

EA Sports publishes a Major League Baseball-licensed Facebook game but is expected to sit out on console titles until the next generation of hardware arrives. Kotaku has reached out to EA Sports for comment.
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At the very least, they will not be renewing the exclusive deal and sticking to a normal licensing agreement that isn't a sinkhole of money. At worst, the series is over and EA is the last hope for those that don't own a Sony console unless a surprise challenger appears.

It still surprises me that the sports landscape is so hostile to lesser competition these days.
 
Lol. How pathetic. They even tried paying people a million bucks to play their garbage games. Good riddance.

Someone will come around to fill the hole for Xbox owners. There's money to be made there so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I just hope EA doesn't get an exclusive license and kills of MLB The Show. I'd also really like to see a new MLB Power Pros game.
 
Im not a huge fan of baseball but I did play the hell out of that ken griffey on the 64 come to think of it that was the last baseball game I bought until I got MLB 12 for the vita and I still havent played it
 
[quote name='Lyricsborn']Hope MVP baseball comes back![/QUOTE]

This x1000

And while I don't mind the 2k baseball games, I don't help the cause. I never buy new sports games, I'm still playing MLB 2k10.
 
Right now I am playing the My Player mode in MLB 2K12 and am quite enjoying it. This makes me sad because it means I won't have an MLB game to play on the Xbox.
 
I know baseball video games are not a big mover when compared to football and basketball, but I bet someone will slide in to release a new multi-console game. My concern is that EA probably knows very well the clout that it's MVP brand carries in the hardcore circles, and they just push out a rush job for a quick buck.
 
The one thing I noticed is that there aren't many improvements in MLB 2K12 compared to 2K11. There are small minor details but nothing major. If they made a better looking game and had features that could rival The Show, then they would be making a lot more money with their games.
 
Bring back the MVP Baseball franchse-- best sports franchise in recent memory. MLB The Show is a solid series as well, but the fact that it's a Playstation exclusive series doesn't really help me out very much, seeing as I own a Xbox 360.
 
I really hope EA does get exclusive rights so they can bring back MVP. As good as the Show is, I would still rather play MVP Baseball 2005. Hands down the best baseball game I've ever played. Everything worked for that game on every level. Hell, even NCAA versions of MVP were really great.
 
Well, I don't really hope EA gets full, exclusive MLB rights to make the games, but you know EA. I want a baseball game to play, and I've played The Show a bit here and there, and it's not nearly as good as the old MVPs. I'm all for co-existence so the PS3 owners and die-hards can have The Show, but would EA really just let that go?

I just want a new MVP after too many years of playing terrible basaeball games on the 360.
 
I don't see them going for exclusivity at all since the sport doesn't bring in much at all. They'd have exclusivity on non-Sony systems by default if they're the only ones to jump into the ring.
 
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