how pissed do you think Sony and Microsoft are at EA?
- Thread starter Joe
- Start date
FitzOfRage
Member
I don't think they'd be too pissed. Sony clearly gave up competing with Madden a long time ago.
Outcast2004
Banned
I'm pissed that EA has now brought a monopoly to football games. I've been a fan of Segas @k games since their inception.
I'm a more casual football player so Seag suits me better. A faster game play is better for me. I've never really been a Madden Fan, felt it moved too slowly. Besides 2K5 was the BEST $20 I've spent. EVAR.
Thanks EA, you fucks.
I'm a more casual football player so Seag suits me better. A faster game play is better for me. I've never really been a Madden Fan, felt it moved too slowly. Besides 2K5 was the BEST $20 I've spent. EVAR.
Thanks EA, you fucks.
I'd imagine that Sony and MS are giddy like schoolgirls.
EA can't leverage Madden against them too much because EA needs a serious jump in sales to justify this deal. They won't be able to get that by being on only one console, especially if they side with one of them and the other dominates the market. Madden doesn't decide the market, a host of console selling titles do. A new Final Fantasy has more console selling power than Madden in all reality.
The reason why they're so giddy though isn't that they know EA can't leverage Madden against them, its that the NFL and NFLPA have put down a price point for exclusivity. Thats like selling the rights to GTA or Halo or FF. In 5 years Sony and MS can try outbidding EA and taking the NFL exclusivity deal themselves. They both have much more access to capital. Buying the exlcusive rights for MS would cost what, a month's profit? It'd guarantee an extra 5M Xboxes sell too probably. I could completely see them doing it.
Where does that leave EA? About on par with Sega. Big software company with very little guaranteed to sell.
Setting this precident could do EA a hell of a lot more harm than good.
EA can't leverage Madden against them too much because EA needs a serious jump in sales to justify this deal. They won't be able to get that by being on only one console, especially if they side with one of them and the other dominates the market. Madden doesn't decide the market, a host of console selling titles do. A new Final Fantasy has more console selling power than Madden in all reality.
The reason why they're so giddy though isn't that they know EA can't leverage Madden against them, its that the NFL and NFLPA have put down a price point for exclusivity. Thats like selling the rights to GTA or Halo or FF. In 5 years Sony and MS can try outbidding EA and taking the NFL exclusivity deal themselves. They both have much more access to capital. Buying the exlcusive rights for MS would cost what, a month's profit? It'd guarantee an extra 5M Xboxes sell too probably. I could completely see them doing it.
Where does that leave EA? About on par with Sega. Big software company with very little guaranteed to sell.
Setting this precident could do EA a hell of a lot more harm than good.
sonycowboy
Member
evil ways said:
I agree. Although, I think they are probably disappointed that it came to this. It does give EA alot more bargaining power in their relationships and it also ends the MSN sports and 989 sports (not that either were in great shape, especially 989). You simply cannot have a sports lineup with full branding if you don't have an NFL game, it take up 50% of traditional sports sales. And sports takes up 15-20% of all videogame sales.
sonycowboy
Member
Suerte said:
The games and the teams developing them.
sonycowboy
Member
Deku Tree said:
I really don't think so. EA is an extremely important partner for everyone. It also sends a bad message to other software partners that you're willing to cut their hearts out.
(although, I don't think most of them would mind EA being taken down a peg or two)
It'd be nothing new for the NFL, they do the same thing with their TV packages. The highest bidder always wins, its gotten to the point where all TV channels with an NFL package actually loose money on it. I could easily see the same thing happening with football games now. No one will make a profit on NFL games after this 5 year deal is up because whoever gets it will have to pay a fortune for it.
1. EA started this slippery slope by going after the exclusive rights. The NFL will now push to get multiple bidders involved after this first contract. If nothing else Sony, MS, Take 2, etc. will drive the price up on EA to the point where selling short of 10 million copies they won't be able to turn a profit.
2. EA isn't NEARLY as important when you take away Madden. They're just those guys who make tons of crappy games every year. If EA looses the NFL rights for Madden they're basically Ubisoft or Sega, they have no bite and will have to put up with someone kneecapping them on the NFL contract, otherwise they'll sink like Sega is now.
Also, other 3rd parties could care less about what happens to EA. They're the "bad guy" who just screwed over Midway, Take 2, Sega, and several other companies all planning on that licensing agreement for titles already in development. If anything it'd get a fucking round of applause the following E3.
MrPing1000
Member
sony, microsoft and nintendo should get together and all revoke EA's license to make games for their consoles.
That would be amusing
That would be amusing
sonycowboy
Member
Drek said:
Then why didn't they jump in this time? The answer, the price is already as high as it would go. It's not like magically in 5 years, Sony, Take-Two, and M$ are going to all of a sudden pony up twice what they wouldn't pay this time. That's just ridiculous. As several analysts have stated, EA will most likely be able to pay LESS next time because they will be the only brand on the market for the past five years and have all the consumer recognition.
Drek said:
EA has 4 times the sales of there nearest competitor (except Nintendo) and less 15% of that is Madden. You're forgetting the other 20 franchises they have that sell over a million copies.
sonycowboy
Member
Link316 said:
I was talking about the hardware guys, not other software publishers. Sony, Microsoft, & Nintendo need to walk a very tight line between competing with publishers and wooing them for their support on their system.
mashoutposse
Ante Up
Drek said:
EA put out 43 titles this generation that sold over 500k. Madden would be a big blow, but they would still be leagues ahead of Sega (5 over 500k) or Ubisoft (again, only 5 over 500k this gen).
Baron Aloha
A Shining Example
mashoutposse said:
While that is true I think that some of you are underestimating how much the Madden name contributes to the EA brand as a whole. A lot of casuals out there buy EA games because "they are the guys who make Madden". If you take away Madden it would probably start to affect the sales of all their other games after a couple of years. I don't know if they'd be knocked down to Sega/Ubisoft's level though. Maybe just below Activision and Take Two. Also, with less money coming in they would not be able to afford as many licenses as before.
I never said the games didn't suck, but the vast majority really do. EA gets a lot more play throughout all of the gaming media thanks to Madden, just like how Rockstar and Take 2 get a ton more coverage for all their crap thanks to GTA. You take away the headliner you take away the media's need to kiss your ass.
Comparing them to Sega and Ubi is an exageration, sure, but they wouldn't be the super power they currently are.
Because no one expected it. EA has been pursuing this for a couple of years and they finally got it. If they had seen it coming do you think they would already be underway with their next line of NFL licensed games, which now need a major direction shift?
If you honestly think EA is going to now be able to lowball the NFL because they'll be the only recognized brand then you're fucking high. The NFL would rather not see any games made than have that done. Is there anything more recognizable in football broadcasting than John Madden or Monday Night Football? ABC has them both together yet they still see huge jumps in their NFL packages every time the contract comes up. The price staying the same or going down isn't an option for the NFL, their entire goal with this is to make software companies bid against one another like televion networks do. EA is just the first to bite.
And if you really think that MS and Sony are going to worry about not getting Need For Speed or the next Bond game because they stole EA's 5M+ selling football market you're living on another planet. EA won't have much of a choice and those other franchises just don't stack up to the consumer drawing power that is NFL football.
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
In my eyes, EA just solidified themselves as the sole decision maker here. It's ever worse than when they went without the Dreamcast. No EA now, and you might as well not even make the damn console
sonycowboy
Member
Drek said:
:lol
No one expected it? You don't think Take-Two, Sony, & Microsoft were approached? OK.
And you're right about Madden being it. You can look at the LTD chart the AirBrian posted and it's clearly a one-horse pony. Despite EA now gettting 40% of their revenues from Europe and Madden not selling there.
Mrbob said:
I can't back up Drek's argument, but I've heard it plenty of times before. Most people say that a network will lose money on say buying the exclusive for the the superbowl, but they still bid because they expect make it back by getting all those people watching the advertising for their TV line up.
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