IS MADDEN WORTH A BILLION DOLLARS?

[RCM]

Holy shit, I hope this isn't true. Not because I like football games but because I fucking hate EA. THere is a rumor that EA wants to pay out a billion dollars to the NFL players association so that they can get exclusive rights to all the players for their videogames thus shutting out any and all competitors for the next 4 years. Does Madden really pull that much cash in for EA? I know they have been recyling the same shitty engine since 1999. I am sure they save money that way, but a billion fucking dollars Dr. Evil? That's crazy. If they are willing to pay out a billion for the rights to players Madden is way larger then I ever imagined. I am pretty sure the US market pretty much makes Madden the powerhouse it currently is (football is different everywhere else in the world after all). I can't see their closest competitor, Sega, as a threat. While they match in quality (from what i've been told) they clearly do not match in sales. Is EA getting cold feet about the new ESPN NFL football title for xbox? I seriously doubt it even though it looks in incredible. I understand that other companies can still create football titles, but I also understand that for whatever reason not having real players seriously detracts from the overall experience. I hope this doesn't happen. This could help destroy videogames as we know it. Is Nintendo going to buy the copyrights to 3D platform titles so nobody else can make them anymore? Can Sega buy the rights to all 3D fighters and 3D racers to help insure that nobody can make them anymore? I understand those examples are a bit different from the issue at hand, but I think you get the idea. I fucking hate EA. Check this link

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05...s_6098784.html

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[Darkness X]

Hell no! I think that is insane, paying that much for player rights! I don't care about football games, but isn't this somewhat of a monopoly?

[scooterb23]

I think you're taking this a little too seriously, this won't be the end of all gaming. Although, there are times when I think that blowing up the video game industry (figuratively) and starting over with some fresh ideas might not be a bad idea...

Now, I could see a hardcore sports gamer getting their jock strap in a bunch over this. But that's about as far as I think this will really go if it goes through.

If I were in charge of the ESPN sports franchise though...I would put bids in on every other sport in existence tomorrow...

[petewhitley]

Ha ha ha. Brilliant. Man, that would be alotta spread. Crazy money, but if they could do it, Madden would be the ONLY game in town. Brilliant, but that kinda cash is insane...

[chrisbid]

that is terrible news, im sure the NFL would step in and try to stop it though, as this would not only spell the end for football simulations, but also more arcade style games like NFL Blitz, Backyard football, and other licensed games

[Cmosfm]

Dude, for a billion dollars, I'll organize my own juvenile football team, train them, make them the best juvenile team EVER and GIVE THEM to EA.

Actually, maybe I could do that for free....sounds like fun. but that means I have to work....hmmmm......meh, nevermind.

[Half Japanese]

Ah, I remember the old days of renting Baseball Stars on my NES. Who the fuck needs the Braves or the Yankees when you have the Real Runners and the Magic Bananas? I think I may be asking too much though, as the average idiot these days would rather see the holes in a player's jersey than have a little bit of fun with a game. If EA ever wonders why it gets backlash from a lot of hardcore-types (which, by the way, I don't proclaim myself to be), they will have no one to blame but themselves...at which point they'll return to lighting $1,000 cigars with $100 bills and shit out another game with updated rosters.

[XtremeGamerz]

would be nice to make that much off your name

[AB Positive]

from a sports side of things, no way in hell this goes through. EA has to pay quite a bit for the right for Madden alone, and I'm willing to bet that the NFL makes more money than what EA's offering from all the other companies getting the NFLPA rights. No chance in hell this goes through.


-AG

[Sylentwulf]

No way it will happen. I don't think it's even remotely legal either. If the deal went through 10 different videogame companies would have them in court by the end of the week.

[Griking]

Why would it be illegal? The NFLPA has the power to license its property to whoever they like. If EA makes a sweatheart offer for an exclusive deal then why couldn't the NFLPA take it if they thought it was worth it to them? Exclusive deals are made all the time, especially in the gaming industry. As much as I hate EA I think it would be a brilliant deal to make if they were able to afford it (which honestly I hightly doubt that they can). It wouldn't prevent other companies from miking football games, they's just have to fill the rosters with made up names. It's been done before plenty of times.

[chadtower]

It probably wouldn't work because no one would spend millions developing a game engine like that for ESPN or the other Madden competitors and then sign a single game deal with the NFLPA. Rest assured Madden's competitors all have multiple game license deals and Madden would just have to wait until all of those ran out.

[anagrama]

All it would mean is a return to the days of non-licensed sports games using phonetic spellings or otherwise *similar* names instead of the real ones.

[sisko]

All it would mean is a return to the days of non-licensed sports games using phonetic spellings or otherwise *similar* names instead of the real ones.

Heh, this reminds me of the "Sixty Whiners" in EAs Mutant League Football that I just popped in.

In reality, this deal won't happen.

This series just needs to DIE.

[zmweasel]

Holy shit, I hope this isn't true. Not because I like football games but because I fucking hate EA. THere is a rumor that EA wants to pay out a billion dollars to the NFL players association so that they can get exclusive rights to all the players for their videogames thus shutting out any and all competitors for the next 4 years. Does Madden really pull that much cash in for EA?

Yes, Madden really pulls in that much cash for EA. Each yearly installment typically sells more than two million copies, and the overall sales make it one of the biggest videogame franchises ever. A billion-dollar deal to essentially drive EA's competitors out of the business would almost certainly pay for itself (although Madden already crushes the competition at retail).

I know they have been recyling the same shitty engine since 1999.

I have to disagree with you here. Madden's engine is hardly "shitty," nor has it been simply recycled from year to year. Compare the Madden that launched with the PS2 to the most recent installment and you'll find the latter has drastically improved graphics and gameplay.

Recycling established game technology is hardly exclusive to EA. It's become a virtual requirement in the current environment of game development. The average videogame budget has moved into eight figures, while the average price of a videogame has gone DOWN.

In fact, the current economics of the game industry are totally fucked up, and we're LONG overdue for a correction, in the form of higher MSRPs and/or Phantom-esque distribution to eliminate the expenses of retail and packaging. But that's another topic.

This could help destroy videogames as we know it. Is Nintendo going to buy the copyrights to 3D platform titles so nobody else can make them anymore? Can Sega buy the rights to all 3D fighters and 3D racers to help insure that nobody can make them anymore?

You can't "buy" a copyright to a game genre. You're comparing apples and oranges.

-- Z.

[RCM]

Zmweasel wrote:

Yes, Madden really pulls in that much cash for EA. Each yearly installment typically sells more than two million copies, and the overall sales make it one of the biggest videogame franchises ever. A billion-dollar deal to essentially drive EA's competitors out of the business would almost certainly pay for itself (although Madden already crushes the competition at retail).

If Madden is "only" selling 2 million copies per year then that wouldnt be a smart move for EA. Even though we pay $49.99 plus tax at retail that doesn't mean EA is getting all of the money. I agree, as I did in my first post that it is an odd move because Madden soundly beats the competition year after year with the exception of the year 2000 when the Sega NFL series (DC) outsold Madden(PS2). But that was due more to the low installed base then anything else.

I have to disagree with you here. Madden's engine is hardly "shitty," nor has it been simply recycled from year to year. Compare the Madden that launched with the PS2 to the most recent installment and you'll find the latter has drastically improved graphics and gameplay.

Recycling established game technology is hardly exclusive to EA. It's become a virtual requirement in the current environment of game development. The average videogame budget has moved into eight figures, while the average price of a videogame has gone DOWN.

In fact, the current economics of the game industry are totally fucked up, and we're LONG overdue for a correction, in the form of higher MSRPs and/or Phantom-esque distribution to eliminate the expenses of retail and packaging. But that's another topic.

I never implied that EA was the only developer to tweak or recycle a game engine. To further explain myself, If EA does indeed make billions off of the Madden Franchise then I would personally like to see an engine that "couldn't" or "shouldn't" be able to be done on whatever system it's running on. In other words, I want to see the development of stunning game engines every year (which i know wont happen). I view it as being lazy when one of the top game developers does'nt go above and beyond smaller developers with less resources. And yes I understand that it cuts into their profits. EA has the funds to develop specific graphic engines for Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. But it doesn't. PLease don't tell me that Madden on Xbox is an awesome engine for that particular system. It's just my opinion though, I respect yours but don't agree totally.

You can't "buy" a copyright to a game genre. You're comparing apples and oranges.

I acknowledged in my original post that they were different check this out

I wrote:

This could help destroy videogames as we know it. Is Nintendo going to buy the copyrights to 3D platform titles so nobody else can make them anymore? Can Sega buy the rights to all 3D fighters and 3D racers to help insure that nobody can make them anymore? I understand those examples are a bit different from the issue at hand, but I think you get the idea.

I think if this rumor turns out to be true it (copyrighting a new genre) could be possible. Hopefully certain game genres have yet to be created. Who's to say that somebody won't look at what EA is rumored to be doing and copyright something new? I will admit that as of today, I don't think any company could copyright a genre new or old. But if this EA thing goes through who knows? One crazy move could create even crazier practices in the industry. That was the point I was trying to make.

Like I said before, I sure hope this isn't true. It probably isn't true. But it would be truly insane if EA pulls this off

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[RCM]

Zmweasel wrote:

Yes, Madden really pulls in that much cash for EA. Each yearly installment typically sells more than two million copies, and the overall sales make it one of the biggest videogame franchises ever. A billion-dollar deal to essentially drive EA's competitors out of the business would almost certainly pay for itself (although Madden already crushes the competition at retail).

If Madden is "only" selling 2 million copies per year then that wouldnt be a smart move for EA. Even though we pay $49.99 plus tax at retail that doesn't mean EA is getting all of the money. I agree, as I did in my first post that it is an odd move because Madden soundly beats the competition year after year with the exception of the year 2000 when the Sega NFL series (DC) outsold Madden(PS2). But that was due more to the low installed base then anything else.

I have to disagree with you here. Madden's engine is hardly "shitty," nor has it been simply recycled from year to year. Compare the Madden that launched with the PS2 to the most recent installment and you'll find the latter has drastically improved graphics and gameplay.

Recycling established game technology is hardly exclusive to EA. It's become a virtual requirement in the current environment of game development. The average videogame budget has moved into eight figures, while the average price of a videogame has gone DOWN.

In fact, the current economics of the game industry are totally fucked up, and we're LONG overdue for a correction, in the form of higher MSRPs and/or Phantom-esque distribution to eliminate the expenses of retail and packaging. But that's another topic.

I never implied that EA was the only developer to tweak or recycle a game engine. To further explain myself, If EA does indeed make billions off of the Madden Franchise then I would personally like to see an engine that "couldn't" or "shouldn't" be able to be done on whatever system it's running on. In other words, I want to see the development of stunning game engines every year (which i know wont happen). I view it as being lazy when one of the top game developers does'nt go above and beyond smaller developers with less resources. And yes I understand that it cuts into their profits. EA has the funds to develop specific graphic engines for Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. But it doesn't. PLease don't tell me that Madden on Xbox is an awesome engine for that particular system. It's just my opinion though, I respect yours but don't agree totally.

You can't "buy" a copyright to a game genre. You're comparing apples and oranges.

I acknowledged in my original post that they were different check this out

I wrote:

This could help destroy videogames as we know it. Is Nintendo going to buy the copyrights to 3D platform titles so nobody else can make them anymore? Can Sega buy the rights to all 3D fighters and 3D racers to help insure that nobody can make them anymore? I understand those examples are a bit different from the issue at hand, but I think you get the idea.

I think if this rumor turns out to be true it (copyrighting a new genre) could be possible. Hopefully certain game genres have yet to be created. Who's to say that somebody won't look at what EA is rumored to be doing and copyright something new? I will admit that as of today, I don't think any company could copyright a genre new or old. But if this EA thing goes through who knows? One crazy move could create even crazier practices in the industry. That was the point I was trying to make.

Like I said before, I sure hope this isn't true. It probably isn't true. But it would be truly insane if EA pulls this off

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[Oobgarm]

Then only thing is that EA isn't copyrighting a genre, so I don't see how things could go that way. They're simply making a move that solidifies a particualr facet of their product--and it's a major facet to boot. Making their product superior may make it look like they're copyrighting a genre, but all they're really doing is taking away the other's ability to compete on somewhat level ground, if the ground was even level to begin with. More power to 'em, I say. Stuff like this, like it or not, is what drives the industry.

The move won't prevent others from publishing football titles, only prevent them from using player names. What about the days when all we had were numbers to identify the players? What about Ken Griffey Jr MLB on SNES with similar sounding names? In most cases back then the companies couldn't afford the players license, sometimes to getting the rights for the teams, either.

[RCM]

Oobgarm, I am pretty sure that i didn't say that EA would be buying the copyrights to the genre. In this case though, they might as well be doing so. ALso, I was merely trying to point out that if this really happened, it could open the flood gates for even crazier practices possibly destroying Videogames as we know it. That doesn't mean that the industry would crash, it just means that it would be or could be totally different.

I wrote:

I understand that other companies can still create football titles, but I also understand that for whatever reason not having real players seriously detracts from the overall experience.

I actually just read that this rumor is COMPLETELY FALSE. Thank the maker

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[zmweasel]

If Madden is "only" selling 2 million copies per year then that wouldnt be a smart move for EA. Even though we pay $49.99 plus tax at retail that doesn't mean EA is getting all of the money. I agree, as I did in my first post that it is an odd move because Madden soundly beats the competition year after year with the exception of the year 2000 when the Sega NFL series (DC) outsold Madden(PS2). But that was due more to the low installed base then anything else.

The rumor alleged that it was a four-year deal, at $250M per year. And that's certainly more than an average Madden brings in. (EA as a whole tops $1 billion a year in sales.)

Then again, EA would likely see an increase in Madden sales, since it would be the only football game with the NFL license, and probably receive even more NFL co-promotion than it already does.

While the $1 billion figure is probably too high, the deal itself is a rumor that's very easy to believe. EA is a ruthless company that will do anyting to get what it wants. Just ask Microsoft, which had to snuff its own sports games in order to get EA on-board Xbox Live.

To further explain myself, If EA does indeed make billions off of the Madden Franchise then I would personally like to see an engine that "couldn't" or "shouldn't" be able to be done on whatever system it's running on. In other words, I want to see the development of stunning game engines every year (which i know wont happen). I view it as being lazy when one of the top game developers does'nt go above and beyond smaller developers with less resources. And yes I understand that it cuts into their profits. EA has the funds to develop specific graphic engines for Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. But it doesn't. PLease don't tell me that Madden on Xbox is an awesome engine for that particular system. It's just my opinion though, I respect yours but don't agree totally.

It would be impossible to pump out a "stunning" new game engine on a 12-month development cycle without spending obscene amounts of cash and/or destroying the lives of the development team. A triple-A game needs at least 18 to 24 months to be whipped into shape.

I give credit to the Madden developers for cramming whatever they can into each development cycle. The improvements would seem more dramatic if they came all at once instead of over two or three years, but the realities of the market won't allow Madden to "take a year off."

I also can't fault EA for developing Madden on the lowest-common-denominator PS2 and porting upward. Developing separate engines for all three systems would, again, require tremendous amounts of time and money. And why go to all that effort when the PS2 version will easily outsell the Xbox and GameCube versions combined? It doesn't make financial sense.

Incidentally, why do you think the Xbox version of Madden DOESN'T look awesome?

I acknowledged in my original post that they were different check this out

You said that your examples were "a bit different," when in fact they're completely different. And I still don't see how you're able to make a connection between the purchase of exclusive interactive rights to a sports organization and the copyright of an entire game genre.

-- Z.