Support NeoGAF

[MikeE21286]

I thought from the reveal that this service uses ESPN fantasy. Now that I think about it I guess NFL makes more sense... But are you sure?

Can't be 100% sure.

It looked as though the ESPN integration was only for the basketball.

The NFL tends to always use NFL.com when it talks about "integration with fantasy sports". Like I've said before, integrating with the other platforms would require partnerships with them all specifically. None of which they announced or discussed.

If I were a betting man I'd say it's very likely that it's NFL.com.

 

[Dude Abides]

It'll be kind of odd to roll this out mid-season. Xbone launching labor day weekend?

 

[Sky Chief]

Sunday Ticket costs DirecTV a BILLION dollars a year to get from the NFL so 400 Million over 5 years won't include anything like Sunday Ticket levels of access.

I'd expect glorified fantasy football (which is a giant market itself) and maybe some other benefits like highlights.

This, $400 million over five years is chump change to the NFL. NFL football is the most valuable entertainment on earth and this certainly means that Microsoft will not be getting to stream games or anything like that.

 

[eznark]

It'll be kind of odd to roll this out mid-season. Xbone launching labor day weekend?

The xbox1 portion of this deal is minuscule. It's the Surface and co-branding that is the anchor of this deal.

 

[Mxrz]

$400 million dollars could've made a couple new games, but its not like they're making a game console or anything.

 

[LyleLanley]

$400 million dollars could've made a couple new games, but its not like they're making a game console or anything.

I think you're the first one to have come up with this original thought.

 

[HocusPocus]

Another decision that will pay off with the other 99% that aren't hardcore gamers. That's their target.

 

[eznark]

I think you're the first one to have come up with this original thought.

You're just excited because you can envision all the new way Belichick will use the surface to cheat.

 

[Jac_Solar]

What's wrong with this exactly? Sony has a similar $300 million deal with FIFA.

Isn't FIFA more of a global property compared to NFL, though?

 

[R3TRO]

Five years! Awesome, this is something else that sold me during the reveal. It's Us based but then again I'm in the Us.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

$400 million dollars could've made a couple new games, but its not like they're making a game console or anything.

It's $80 million a year to integrate your product with one of the biggest brands in the country. Nintendo probably spent more than that on their completely ineffective Wii U marketing this past holiday. Money that also could have gone toward making new games bro.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Isn't FIFA more of a global property compared to NFL, though?

NFL is worth more so you have to pay more.

 

[stktt]

Money better used towards a good IP.

How about eight of them?

 

[LyleLanley]

You're just excited because you can envision all the new way Belichick will use the surface to cheat.

There's a joke here about live television/camera feeds or something.

 

[Allforce]

Can't be 100% sure.

It looked as though the ESPN integration was only for the basketball.

The NFL tends to always use NFL.com when it talks about "integration with fantasy sports". Like I've said before, integrating with the other platforms would require partnerships with them all specifically. None of which they announced or discussed.

If I were a betting man I'd say it's very likely that it's NFL.com.

the NFL has talked about their desire to "own" fantasy play in the past, there's huge money they're losing by allowing Yahoo, ESPN, etc to run these leagues on their own but there's nothing they can really do about it besides offer a better fantasy experience of their own.

Which I think they're doing. I've used NFL.com and its a nice integration of real-time updates and highlights.

The bigger question is whether this deal is going to allow Xbox One owners to purchase a Sunday Ticket subscription. Since they haven't mentioned it specifically I'm going to say no. Sony still offers the only way to buy the Sunday Ticket without going through a DirecTV subscription which is a huge advantage.

If Microsoft gets the Sunday Ticket deal I can't wait for people who dont know to melt down over how much it costs (it's currently 349.99 for a season of Sunday Ticket)

 

[spwolf]

the NFL has talked about their desire to "own" fantasy play in the past, there's huge money they're losing by allowing Yahoo, ESPN, etc to run these leagues on their own but there's nothing they can really do about it besides offer a better fantasy experience of their own.

Which I think they're doing. I've used NFL.com and its a nice integration of real-time updates and highlights.

The bigger question is whether this deal is going to allow Xbox One owners to purchase a Sunday Ticket subscription. Since they haven't mentioned it specifically I'm going to say no. Sony still offers the only way to buy the Sunday Ticket without going through a DirecTV subscription which is a huge advantage.

If Microsoft gets the Sunday Ticket deal I can't wait for people who dont know to melt down over how much it costs (it's currently 349.99 for a season of Sunday Ticket)

wait, so Sony still have actual live games for NFL?

 

[Allforce]

Yep, the exact same service as DirecTV, without a monthly contract.

 

[Sky Chief]

So am I misunderstanding things or is Microsoft banking on people being willing to buy a cable subscription, buy an Xbox, pay for Xbox live gold, then pay an additional hefty fee for NFL ticket? Or whatever it will be called??

Or am I getting it wrong?

They said nothing about getting Sunday Ticket on Xbox One.

Can I ask how many games that covers? I don't even know how many games each team plays in the NFL each year let alone any of the finer details lol.

From this Forbes article the NFL rights went for $27b (£17.9b) for 9 years or about $3b (£1.98b) per season

In the UK Sky and BT signed up for a £3b ($4.5b) 3 year deal (£1b or $1.5b a year) to broadcast 154 games (of the 380 games per season that actually happen). That doesn't then include the FA Cup and League Cup games or any of the Champions League (about £150m per year for the UK alone).

That $3 Billion a year is only from FOX, NBC, CBS. They also get $1.9B a year from ESPN and $1B a year from DirecTV. So $5.9B for 523 games (512 regular season, 11 playoff) so each game's rights costs about $11.3 million.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

You whined about them spending money on something that a large chunk of their userbase will eat up. They will still put money towards games; why can't they do both?

I am calm.

Making an observation is whining? A large chunk of their userbase want a console for Football? Clearly you are calm as a breeze

They can do both, they just didn't show that they have done both. Regardless, it is still a vast amount of money that is of no benefit whatsoever to a HUGE part of their customer base, where as 400M of games would be.