It was the shot heard 'round the football world. Monday, December 13th 2004 will be the day that lives in football game infamy for at least the next five years. Electronic Arts bought the exclusive rights to player names, stadiums, uniforms, logos, and NFL Films content for the next 5 years from the NFL. But the question remains- what does Visual Concepts/Sega, -the makers of the ESPN NFL 2K5 series- do about this, if anything?
Sadly, from reports I am reading, Sega not only knew about the deal, but was given an opportunity to bid on the licensing. If that's true, its not surprising that EA outbid them. EA is fast becoming the DISNEY of the ever-growing video game industry.
Where the deal fails to make any sense is that by most calculations, Electronic Art's "Madden" series already had an 80% market share. This was also compounded by the fact that the Madden series also sold on the PC and GameCube, two systems where Sega/ESPN did not even produce a product.
So, at least to me, this bullishness on the part of EA was rather unnecessary and expensive. Of course, IF the NFL decided to make the license "exclusive"- and therefore decided to sell it ONLY to the highest bidder, it would be hard to fault EA's actions. Reports on whether it was the NFL or EA themselves that pushed "exclusivity" are not clear as of yet.
But what is even more unclear is what happens to the popular NFL 2K5 series now? It obviously must drop the NFL tag, as well as the real player names, uniforms, and stadiums. What ESPN would be forced to do hasn't been seen since Madden '92, back when the EA game had no players license and no NFL license. One thing is for sure, it would be a painful step backwards that would cost precious sales against EA's fully licensed NFL/NFLPA/NFL FILMS/NFL STADIUMS product.
No matter which way you slice it, Visual Concepts, the developer of the ESPN NFL 2K series, was badly hurt today - perhaps to the point of corporate death. As a frequent buyer of their football games, I can say that its a damn shame that this happened as their game was starting to gain such notoriety and critical acclaim. But where do they go from here?
The logical move would be to first let their big-brother by the name of Sega do some legal posturing to see if there's any hope to deem what EA and the NFL did a "monopoly" in US courts. That much is obvious. However, the bigger problem is this- Visual Concepts should already have been about six months into their cycle of creating their next NFL game. This move comes mid-development and hurts them substantially.
The possibility may exist for them to shift gears and apply that same engine to a college football game- which is what I bet they do. Heck, this is what I bet they MUST do. They've already paid for 6 months of development, so a game is probably to the financial point where it MUST be released considering the hours already put into it. The pro engine converted to a collge sim is a safer "Seller" than a no-name, no-real-players, no-real-stadiums "Pro Football Sim."
Furthermore- I doubt the ESPN talents such as Berman and Kiper would be willing to do that kind of a "no-name-sim" with their name on it or ESPN's name. What's left is the possibility for a college sim. Sadly, with a shift 6 months into the cycle, that sim runs the danger of being VERY raw at release time, further adding to this terrible situation. No matter way you slice it, I would hate to be in VC's shoes.
The other possible move would be to create a "Pro Game" for PC where users are given complete customization options of everything such as uniforms, helmets, league size, stadiums, players- etc. From there, the fan community would treat the game as "their baby" and run with it. I realize this is the hope of many in the PC game arena (of which I am one). However, you just don't generate the kind of sales you need with a PC audience that you would with a console audience. There's the clincher. My guess is that the game would have to also release on XBOX to even merit creating. The question then becomes would VC be able to creat an "open" football sim that is completely customizeable on XBOX.
This would indeed be too much for the Playstation 2, in what is the twighlight of the system's life. People would also be forced to by the $99 hard-drive attatchment to pull something like that off. So again we are left with a mere "Possibility" on PC and XBOX.. and even then there's a risk. Its just much easier for consumers to buy the licensed EA game.
Visual Concepts is in nothing less than the most un-enviable position in the gaming world after "Black Monday".
There may also be speculation for EA in-house as well. Do they really need John Madden's name anymore since they have the drawing power of being the ONLY NFL game around? Does the game become NFL Football 2006 by EA Sports? Do they instead check into the availability of the ESPN license if VC doesn't make their pro game? I would think EA might. Plus, Sega may opt to sell that ESPN license (if possible) to EA to help recoup some of the losses that this move creates for them. And trust me, there's going to be SUBSTANTIAL losses.
Wow, so much could possibly change by the next time we buy an NFL sim- or any pro football sim. And what's even scarier is the fact that we will have to deal with this fact-of-life for five whole years.
Its very hard to find anything positive about this deal. The console football wars spawned innovation, and the two products pushed each other. EA can now afford to rest on their laurels should they want to. I pray that they won't, but EA has been known for its share of "lightly improved re-releases" in the past, and the reputation is not a good one to have. I know myself and Bangpow are happy to be part of the Madden Community Project, but its a shame that a great product like ESPN NFL 2K may become extinct for whatever reason. I guess we have to really push the project to make sure the proposed Madden improvements are known to EA, and they don't go un-heard.
Still, I can't help but feel dissappointed and somewhat outraged by what happened. Greed, either by EA and/or the NFL made this a one-team league, and that is NEVER a positive.
One thing that does intrigue me is the curious inclusion of classic NFL Films material in the license EA bought. I don't know if that opens up some of the licensing for named classic players, stadiums, and teams due to licening of the classic material along with Players Inc, but I'm hopeful it might.
Of course, I think I'm just reaching to find ANY possible benefit of the aftermath of BLACK MONDAY. Chances are, I'm just grasping at straws.
EA and the NFL may have had a big victory today, but I don't think we the players of the games won anything at all. Its up to EA to show us differently.
Quietcool72
Co-Founder
Consolefootball.com
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