EA nabs ESPN

[Convoy]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/17/news_6116473.html

EA now owns the rights to use the ESPN license.

[Jagatai_Khan]

Great. Wonderful. Soon ALL SPORTS GAMES will be devoured by the EA Beast.

Eh, whatever. I don't play sports games, so they can bite me.

[Blueferret]

Great. So the next company that puts out sports games that kick EA's ass can now expect to be bought up. Really makes competition hard. I'm still pissed about the NFLPA deal. Assholes :evilangry

[matrix]

is there no shame. great well i guess there's always fox sports. so much for much the playmakers idea.

[Donald M.]

I saw this coming. Without access to the NFL, ESPN had no reason to stay with Sega.

[Sheldon]

Wow.....Madden 2006 better be the best game ever.

[matrix]

Wow.....Madden 2006 better be the best game ever.
it won't unless you're a madden fan.

[Alex]

it won't unless you're a madden fan.
Then i obviosuly think its the best game ever.
But then, everytime a madden game comes out, i always say its the best game ever, and then the football season doesn;t go like my madden season did (Ealges perfect record and breaking ever record there is!!!!!) i get sad.

[mgs]

this is crazy!! O.O


ah well, it'll take a few years before they get lazy, put out some bad game, then another company can outsell them and the nfl will re-think it's licensing policies.

[Convoy]

ah well, it'll take a few years before they get lazy, put out some bad game, then another company can outsell them and the nfl will re-think it's licensing policies.

I don't think the NFL cares. Even if for some reason Madden (or ESPN) doesn't sell well (and cows, along with pigs start to fly), EA still owes the NFL a large sum of money.

My guess for Sega/Take 2 would be to get the Fox Sports license.

[Convoy]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/18/news_6116545.html

Hmmm, this is interesting. Could this turn into a war such as Marvel vs. DC where each company was declaring exclusives left and right? What's next, "EA nabs rights for the IHRA!!"?

[matrix]

Then i obviosuly think its the best game ever.
But then, everytime a madden game comes out, i always say its the best game ever, and then the football season doesn;t go like my madden season did (Ealges perfect record and breaking ever record there is!!!!!) i get sad.
yeah it's hard to score that many point in a real game unless your the colts :D

[Convoy]

http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580468p1.html

[matrix]

http://sports.ign.com/articles/580/580468p1.html
wow um payback a bitch :D

[IQ!]

As soon as EA takes the NBA license away from the sims genre, I will quit sports games period. With all this money being thrown around, the only people losing here are the people who buy and play the games. And really, I don't think that any of these companies are thinking anything about the consumer...just because all this big money is being exchanged..that's all they care about.

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Man, they've really been kicking it in high-gear lately.


Before, their growth was kinda subtle. You'd turn around one day and say 'Woah, when that'd happen'.


Now, they're snapping up everything in a rush.

[Convoy]

MLB is third party exclusive

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/582/582295p1.html

Sega is done with sports games which leads to...

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/582/582402p1.html

...a new label for Take 2

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/582/582539p1.html

[Sanagi]

In light of recent events, Penny-Arcade has secured the exclusive rights to video game themed webcomics.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2005-01-26

[Donald M.]

From the article about SEGA dropping its sports line:



It appears SEGA saw little value left in its sports line-up. The Times quotes SEGA CEO Naoya Tsurumi: "The ESPN Videogames line has not been a key profit driver in the North American market for Sega."

And in other news, the fox announced, "Those grapes probably woulda tasted sour anyway."

[Convoy]

Updates:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/30/news_6117499.html

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/583/583804p1.html

[Donald M.]

Somehow I doubt EA is sweating the MLB loss too much. They've got football after all, and Madden has always been their biggest sports franchise.

[Convoy]

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/espnmajorleaguebaseball2k5/news_6117720.html

[cable guy]

this is just rotten news! horrible. it's getting like a monopoly

they also have the NFL license as well correct?

so I guess that's it for SEGA.

and this is coming from a huge EA sports fan. I've loved the Madden football series since it began, but competition is a good thing.

from what I hear, alot of people liked SEGA better than EA


If you can't beat 'em eliminate them from the market!

[cable guy]

Great. So the next company that puts out sports games that kick EA's ass can now expect to be bought up. Really makes competition hard. I'm still pissed about the NFLPA deal. Assholes :evilangry

this is the problem. who can compete now?

I agree 100% about the NFLPA. Money talks though.

[cable guy]

Wow.....Madden 2006 better be the best game ever.

I don't see this happening though.

the only reason EA improved on their hockey and baseball titles was because of the competition. they were losing sales.

[Convoy]

so I guess that's it for SEGA.

Sega basically dropped out when they sold Visual Concepts to Take 2.

[Celisasu]

I'm one of those people who bought the 2K series of games generally and not EA's games. I'm not going to be buying EA's sports games even if they're the only ones out there.

[Winslow]

Dang.

I picked up ESPN NFL 2k5 and am really loving it and having fun.

It was on sale for $5. Now I know why . . .