RobVarak wrote:Sega has to get creative here. Create an editor that will let people take advantage of internet connectivity to d/l and trade rosters easily. Stay with the $19.99 price point (should be easy now with no license fees) and pour some of that money into R&D and QA.
They may get slaughtered, but they have to assume the role of outsider/underdog and really embrace it.
That game will not sell. We would buy it, sure, but it would be nearly impossible for them to make any money. Ten years ago, you could probably get away with not having a license. But the games cost so much to develop, no one in their right mind would bankroll such a huge gamble.
Sega's best bet would be to pull the same on EA, and buy the NBA or MLB rights. But unless Take Two is going to spend some of that GTA green, that's highly unlikely they can afford it.
RobVarak wrote:Sega has to get creative here. Create an editor that will let people take advantage of internet connectivity to d/l and trade rosters easily. Stay with the $19.99 price point (should be easy now with no license fees) and pour some of that money into R&D and QA.
They may get slaughtered, but they have to assume the role of outsider/underdog and really embrace it.
That game will not sell. We would buy it, sure, but it would be nearly impossible for them to make any money. .
They may get slaughtered, but they have to assume the role of outsider/underdog and really embrace it.
They might not have a choise. Even if VC wants to go the route of underdog it is still Segas decision. Sega has spent enough time playing the underdog role and I doubt they feel the need to compete in the NFL market w/o the license.
RobVarak wrote:Sega has to get creative here. Create an editor that will let people take advantage of internet connectivity to d/l and trade rosters easily. Stay with the $19.99 price point (should be easy now with no license fees) and pour some of that money into R&D and QA.
They may get slaughtered, but they have to assume the role of outsider/underdog and really embrace it.
I actually totally agree with this, as an outsider. I dunno their books obviously. The problem here is that agreement includes TEAMS.
No logos, no stadiums, nothing. That makes it a lot tougher to import and make it an NFL game.
Sega either
-Goes to court on the Monopoly Challenge Law
-Makes the ESPN game anyway with fictional teams and players
-Dumps the NFL game and makes ESPN College a serious game
RobVarak wrote:Sega has to get creative here. Create an editor that will let people take advantage of internet connectivity to d/l and trade rosters easily. Stay with the $19.99 price point (should be easy now with no license fees) and pour some of that money into R&D and QA.
They may get slaughtered, but they have to assume the role of outsider/underdog and really embrace it.
That game will not sell. We would buy it, sure, but it would be nearly impossible for them to make any money. .
I agree
I agree
Im gonna puke
I agree with you, XXXIV. It's really depressing news. I'm not even anti-EA -- I really like the Madden series -- but I'm thinking we're going to lose the ESPN NFL online stuff, which has been some of the most fun I've ever had gaming.
Brando70 wrote:Sega's best bet would be to pull the same on EA, and buy the NBA or MLB rights. But unless Take Two is going to spend some of that GTA green, that's highly unlikely they can afford it.
Plus even though the financials of the NFLPA deal weren't announced, I'm sure they'll become public knowledge in the industry and media soon, and I'm sure the financials are huge.
The big-money precedent has been set now by EA with this deal. The NBA and MLB pale in popularity compared to the NFL, but the brass at both of those leagues don't believe that. So MLB and the NBA will want a wheelbarrow full of cash for their exclusive license since EA has just paid the same for the NFL rights.
No way Sega can afford the MLB or NBA rights. Not a chance. EA knows its the only company with the jack to pull off these exclusive deals, and its swinging that money tree like a very big stick right now.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Understood, Brando. But I was responding to those wondering how Sega can compete, not *if* they should.
That being said, don't underestimate the power of competition. Neither Sega, the developers nor ESPN is going to be happy with this.
Finally, business is business people. If EA was ready to pony up enough $ that the NFLPA was willing to kick all other suitors to the curb, c'est la vie. Sometimes what appears to be bad for competition is, in reality, the impetus for better, more aggressive competition. Not that I'm really excited about this
XBL Gamertag: RobVarak
"Ok I'm an elitist, but I have a healthy respect for people who don't measure up." --Aaron Sorkin
Everyone remember this? I wonder who was the source of the rumors then? And it's amazing how well these rumors were squashed...didn't hear much about this afterwards...
The May 3 issue of the Journal contained a story with the headline "EA set to pay Players Inc. $1 billion." According to the article, Electronic Arts is in final negotiations with Players Inc., the NFL Players Association marketing arm, to exclusively license all NFL player rights for the next four years. The Journal set the price tag of the deal at $250 million each year, which EA would pay Players Inc.; in other words, a literal billion-dollar contract.
Given the large sums reportedly at stake, the exclusivity of the EA/NLFPA deal would have been almost certainly strict. If such a deal were ever done, no non-EA Sports game could license NFL player likenesses--an almost certainly fatal blow to the Madden series' rivals, such as ESPN NFL Football.
When provided with excerpts from the article by GameSpot, EA Sports representatives promised to pass them along to "someone who can answer your questions." However, off the record, one source close to the company called the story "way off."
While The Sports Business Journal broke the story, it was, ironically, reprinted in the magazine ESPN. This prompted a moderator at ESPNvideogames.com to call the NFLPA. According to the moderator, NFLPA reps denied that anything other than "normal" licensing deals were in play.
When contacted by GameSpot, NFLPA executives said that not only was the story false, but The Sports Business Journal has since run a retraction. EA representatives also later contacted GameSpot to confirm the retraction, a fact that will undoubtedly make fans of the ESPN NFL franchise breathe much easier.
Let me be the first to take a shot at the NFL
The NFL just keeps making deals that are not in the best interest of its fans.
The Direct TV NFL ticket has been pissing me off a long time.
Paul T , may your dirty greedy ass rot in Hell.
f*** you b*tch!
I'm very curious as to how this will affect the Fantasy Football market - most of the bigtime websites pay the NFLPA for the players likenesses and everything like that as well...does this mean that only EA Fantasy Footbal can legally use the NFL players and teams and such?
Damn... shocking news. News of the year for sports gaming probably. Thanks a lot, NFL. I don't blame EA one bit, Sega would have inked that same deal themselves so fast it would make your head spin. The NFL just got a bazillion dollar TV deal, now they have to squeeze video game fan by for all intents and purposes killing every football game out there except for Madden? Thanks a lot, NFL.
If it was only players it would be one things, but even I'm not going to play with a bunch of fake ass teams in fake ass stadiums, real rosters or no. Perhaps Sega will release a college game next year, but I can't see them spending all of the money it will developing a next generation game only to use it for college. But maybe they will. Or maybe they can make a golf game....
"Whatever, I don't know why you even play yourself to that degree,
you laugh at me?" - Del
Bill_Abner wrote:No logos, no stadiums, nothing. That makes it a lot tougher to import and make it an NFL game.
Sega either
-Goes to court on the Monopoly Challenge Law
-Makes the ESPN game anyway with fictional teams and players
-Dumps the NFL game and makes ESPN College a serious game
Neither is particularly attractive
Yep. Sega's only hope is that there is some sort of anti-trust/monopoly thing they can use through the legal system. I don't know the legal system or the correct terms, but this seems highly unlikely. In all likelihood Sega and the consumers are both flat screwed. Sega *might* be able to do a game w/o player names, but if you don't have the teams and logos in today's day and age you're done.
If Sega wants to stay in football games (and this whole EA exclusive deal is what it sounds like) the only option I can think of is for them to resurrect their college football game, which as pointed out here won't replace their NFL game in terms of sales.
I guess ESPN Football was getting a little to good for EA to take. If you think about it EA has never had steady competition for any sports title. Maybe a gameday here or there but ESPN was really starting to build a pretty good franchise. They must have been taking too much of the market share. That is the only reason EA would want to do something like this. It also goes to show what kind of industry video games have become. There is a lot of money involved.
Maybe VC can make an arena game. I know the popularity is not there but I think it would make a really fun video game.
Good point about ESPN. I wonder how long thier deal with Sega is for,and what repercussions that will have? Didn't the NFL basically bully ESPN into taking off playmakers?
I don't think this was directed just at Sega. The five-year window was obviously to prevent Sony, MS, or anyone else from getting in on the super-rich football market in the next generation.
The other thing that's depressing is, I'm sure Madden won't outright suck. No matter what game you prefer, EA usually does at least a decent job with Madden and usually makes a quality football game. It's the lack of another option, a change of pace, that truly blows.
But then again, look at what happened to NCAA Football a couple years after the competition melted away....
On trading nearly three times it usual amount, EA stock was up more than $3 today. The stock closed at $57.57, up $3.38 or 6.24 percent with 16,574,606 shares trading hands on the NASDAQ. In after hours trading, the stock at press time had jumped another $2.88 to trade at $60.45
I don't think this was directed just at Sega. The five-year window was obviously to prevent Sony, MS, or anyone else from getting in on the super-rich football market in the next generation.
LOL Yea and the sky is purple. Sorry but neither Fever or Gameday were hitting the 2 million mark in sales. EA was only worried about on thing and that was NFL 2K6.
Hate to break this to you but it is nothing new. How many years was March Madness around 100 teams and had little effort put into the game? Wasn't until ESPN came along until EA put some effort and all the teams in the game. Guess the NCAA is harder to buy out so EA had to spend money on adding colleges and putting a franchise mode in the game.
Guys this is not going to be limited to just the football game. W/o that football revenue this is bound to have a major impact on all sega sports games across the board.
Bill_Abner wrote:Guys this is not going to be limited to just the football game. W/o that football revenue this is bound to have a major impact on all sega sports games across the board.
Shawn Drotar just made a good point at the OS Forum: The Madden name might be dead now, too. Why pay the fat man a huge chunk of change each year since there's no competition?
EA can simply call the game NFL 2006 without paying the huge rights fee to Madden. Remember, Madden used to appear on the cover of every Madden game. No more. Now it's players, the same players that EA reportedly just paid $1 billion over five years for which to secure the licenses.
Sure, Madden has a ton of name equity. But with no competition and the EA name on the box, is paying six or seven figures annually to the fat man really necessary anymore?
Then again, paying $1 million to Madden to keep the name equity is chump change for a company that just shelled out a billion, so EA might do it just to keep the name.
Take care,
PK
Last edited by pk500 on Mon Dec 13, 2004 7:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
