.... Electronic Arts is a monopoly. [Archive]

anwserman

Dec 13, 2004, 10:32 PM

I own NFL2K5, and when I actually play it I do enjoy it. Same for Madden, when I do occasionally play it I seemingly enjoy it.

Yet, EA decided to convince the NFL for the next five years to allow it to be the sole videogame maker to use and represent NFL properties, including every player, team and stadium.

So, bye-bye NFL2K series. Bye-bye competition, and welcome shoddy EA products that seemingly get worse year after year while the price gets higher and higher.

Gotta love the USA.
Fuck you EA.

[ This Message was edited by: anwserman on 2004-12-13 19:33 ]

lain2k3

Dec 13, 2004, 10:52 PM

heh-heh.

Sports game suck http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gifissaprove:

them getting worse isnt good.

Nai_Calus

Dec 13, 2004, 11:23 PM

Heh.

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/12/02/no_fun_and_games/index.html

You'll need to click through a mind-numbing flash ad to read the whole thing, but it won't kill you.

joluh

Dec 14, 2004, 12:22 AM

I concur, Sport games sucks.

AUTO_

Dec 14, 2004, 12:51 AM

On 2004-12-13 21:22, joluh wrote:
I concur, Sport games sucks.

Yes, let us all hate what we don't understand.

Solstis

Dec 14, 2004, 12:56 AM

On 2004-12-13 21:51, AUTO_ wrote:

On 2004-12-13 21:22, joluh wrote:
I concur, Sport games sucks.

Yes, let us all hate what we don't understand.

I don't know what your sig is talking about, and thus, I hate it.

(where are we on Getintothegame's topic?)

Seriously, though, I haven't played any sports games in ages. However, Madden has that nice nostalgia factor - I would buy that over the ESPN version for those reasons alone.

[ This Message was edited by: Solstis on 2004-12-13 21:57 ]

Mixfortune

Dec 14, 2004, 01:14 AM

On 2004-12-13 21:51, AUTO_ wrote:

On 2004-12-13 21:22, joluh wrote:
I concur, Sport games sucks.

Yes, let us all hate what we don't understand.

Then do you hate the reason he doesn't like sports games?
Someone can understand why they hate something, or understand something and hate it. Just because someone hates something, doesn't necessarily validate your statement.

Anyways, back on topic, I won't claim I know too much about the differences between the two franchises of NFL games (although, note, I don't care much for sports games, doesn't mean I don't understand them and the reasoning behind their creation), but something to the effect of a game company have sole rights to a sport sounds like a fairly poor choice for both sides. EA having no competition to help them build a sharper point and improve themselves, and the NFL (or perhaps whoever gets the money out of this deal) going for the quick money rather than what would be more beneficial to them in the long run.

_Sinue_

Dec 14, 2004, 01:34 AM

I can't stand sports titles. I've played them, but if I'm not interested in the real thing, why the hell would I care about a simulation of it?

Regardless, I can see why EA did this. Sega's $20 ESPN titles (which were every bit as high quality as EA's games) were set to trample EA's efforts with their $20 price tag. I can easily see EA trying to cover the NBA, NHL, and other sports in the same manner.

AUTO_

Dec 14, 2004, 02:32 AM

On 2004-12-13 21:22, joluh wrote:
I concur, Sport games sucks.

Then do you hate the reason he doesn't like sports games?

I guess I never saw a reason he gave why sports games suck.

Clearly, you see it.

anwserman

Dec 14, 2004, 02:37 AM

Leave it to the dumbasses that reside on the PSOW forums to fuck this topic over. What I was ranting about is how EA got the exclusive rights to everything NFL - lock stock and barrel.

That, in the video-game sports market, would be the rough equivelent of a console maker getting legislation passed prohibiting any other console to exist in the US for 5 years... they'd get a monopoly on the market, jack up the prices and create shit since people wouldn't have anything else to turn to.

Or better yet, McDonalds buying every fast-food joint in the world. Since, ya know, their food is crap. They'd just have to raise their prices.

AUTO_

Dec 14, 2004, 02:46 AM

In all fairness, the price of EA sports games hasn't gone up, and they have no reason for them to go up. The ESPN series, had a reason to sell their sports games for 20$, not because they felt like being good samaritins, or to balance out the economy, but because they knew it was one of the only ways they could compete with EA.

The hard truth is, EA sports games are better (to the general audience), and that's just the way the coin drops.

Is it fair other developers won't get to make NFL games now? Probably not. But that's not how it works.

If the Madden series is good to begin with, why do you care as a GAMER?

The thread was fucked up to begin with.

[ This Message was edited by: AUTO_ on 2004-12-13 23:59 ]

Solstis

Dec 14, 2004, 02:55 AM

On 2004-12-13 23:46, AUTO_ wrote:
In all fairness, the price of EA sports games hasn't gone up, only others have gone down to try and compete. The EA sports series is good at what it does, and that's the way the business works.

The thread was fucked up to begin with.

The problem is that there no longer is any competition in the market, as anwserman stated.

EA could do jack shit next year in improvements and still demand the same price. Hell, who is going to buy "Ultra Football" when they can have the real NFL players?

I think you need to re-evaluate what is fucked up here. It's not the thread.

[/Aredhel :P]

[ This Message was edited by: Solstis on 2004-12-13 23:55 ]

navci

Dec 14, 2004, 02:58 AM

On 2004-12-13 21:51, AUTO_ wrote:

On 2004-12-13 21:22, joluh wrote:
I concur, Sport games sucks.

Yes, let us all hate what we don't understand.

Yes.
I hate French! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

AUTO_

Dec 14, 2004, 03:04 AM

On 2004-12-13 23:55, Solstis wrote:

[/Aredhel http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif]

+1

Anyways, yeah, it does suck for the other developers. But SEGA can just release Sonic Producers Cut with another colored Chao to get by, and I'm sure that "ESPN" will make it.

The question we should be asking, is does it suck for the gamers?

Until the Madden series starts to go downhill, I think I'll be able to sleep easy at night.

Solstis

Dec 14, 2004, 03:09 AM

On 2004-12-14 00:04, AUTO_ wrote:

On 2004-12-13 23:55, Solstis wrote:

[/Aredhel http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif]

+1

Anyways, yeah, it does suck for the other developers. But SEGA can just release Sonic Producers Cut with another colored Chao to get by, and I'm sure that "ESPN" will make it.

The question we should be asking, is does it suck for the gamers?

Until the Madden series starts to go downhill, I think I'll be able to sleep easy at night.

Aww, Aredhel knows that I'm just messing with him. Devil's Advocate, my boot.

Oh well.

I will admit that the Madden series is spiffy.

KodiaX987

Dec 14, 2004, 09:51 AM

Maddox speaks of sports games:

Ikaruga is one of those games that comes along, kicks incomprehensible amounts of ass, but nobody notices because everyone's too busy playing dog shit football games. I don't get it: they re-package the same shitty football games every year, update a few stats, call it a new game and millions of suckers keep buying them. What's the point? Why not just go outside and play real football instead? Or even better yet, get bent. Nobody likes football.

Allos

Dec 14, 2004, 07:35 PM

I personally don't care, as I prefer Madden to ESPN. The loss of competition may have some effect on Madden in the future (as the developer's may not feel as much pressure to make the game better than last year's/the competition's game) but no one will find that out until it happens.

Outrider

Dec 15, 2004, 12:11 AM

Don't like most sports games. Just don't touch 'em. I don't play or watch sports often either, but I prefer playing the occasional game of footbal over Thanksgiving weekend.

I really don't care for a lot of EA's tactics. Obviously, I can't really talk about their sports titles, but their other games just lack the polish that they should have for selling so many copies. Just recently, I've been devoting a lot of time to Return of the King, and it's been a hell of a lot of fun. But I'll be damned if it doesn't do a lot of things wrong.

Anyway, back on topic - yeah, I think it's unfair, especially since the lack of competition will lead to a lack of innovation, so I'd say gamers will be screwed. We're not screwed yet, as the newest Madden isn't out yet, but I'll bet we're gonna be regretting this move in a couple years.

_Sinue_

Dec 15, 2004, 06:51 AM

Monopolization is never a good thing for the market, of course, it happens all too often in the console arena. Specifically, I speak of Nintnedo and their illegal 3rd party contracting in the 8-bit days, and their dominance over the hand-held market. It took -HOW- long to get a real update to the Gameboy? When we finally do get one, Sony decides to throw their hat into the ring - and now look.. here comes the DS.

Personally, I can't stand EA. Not so much for this Monopoly move (which does suck), but because of their habit of buying out 3rd party developers with a good product and then driving them into the ground. If it were up the execs at EA, Maxis and Will Wright would have been gone a long time ago. Luckily he somehow got his "Sims" project pushed and churned out a hit. Now look at how they whore all over it.

Honestly, the only console gaming companys I have any respect for anymore are Namco, Treasure, and UbiSoft. I still love Sega.. but they've changed too much for me to respect them anymore.

HAYABUSA-FMW-

Dec 17, 2004, 05:55 AM

On 2004-12-13 23:46, AUTO_ wrote:
In all fairness, the price of EA sports games hasn't gone up, and they have no reason for them to go up. The ESPN series, had a reason to sell their sports games for 20$, not because they felt like being good samaritins, or to balance out the economy, but because they knew it was one of the only ways they could compete with EA.

[ This Message was edited by: AUTO_ on 2004-12-13 23:59 ]

Yep.
It in FACT caused a price drop for EA's line of Sports games this year as well...albeit probably post-release and not from the outset. For example: Madden was $50 USD when it released. It has since dropped to $30, but countless copies have been sold already.

Since EA now owns all the rights to the NFL then they can charge $50 again(or more, but that is unlikely-most games never top the $50 mark these days) for their next 5 years worth of Madden releases.
This is a bit disheartening.

If they get a lock on all the other major sports leagues then we're really screwed.

I'd hate to only be able to play a crappy NBA Live version for 5 years, since no competition exists and its a monopoly of the industry.

Everyone jumped on the bandwagon for the dunk contest in the current version of Live. I tried it and its not all that special to me. The main game is not that fun. The team concept it really lost now. I prefer ESPN's version this year. Franchise/"The Association" mode has countless sleep hours from me already!

Competition is good. But EA puts a lot of money and time into Madden. They have to keep it a respectable game to buy every year for sports gamers, or else no one will be buying it.

PS:I suck at Madden. I hate it with a passion.

Outrider

Dec 18, 2004, 01:36 AM

_Sinue_

Dec 18, 2004, 05:09 AM

Namco - Mainly because of a move they did back in the Dreamcast days. Soul Calibur would have been a huge hit on the PS2, and while other companies were flocking to put their "DC Exclusive" titles up on other platforms.. Namco actually stood by their word and left SC a DC exclusive. That move just kind of stuck in my mind.

Treasure - Mainly because they're more concerned with putting out great games, than mass-appealing games. They stay out of the hype, out of the BS, and just do what they do best.

UbiSoft - Again.. they have churned out so many A+ titles in such a short amount of time.. they're just unbelievable. While not all of their games make the grade, a good majority of them do. It really shows a comitment to quality, which is nice to see when I'm plunking down $50 a pop for a new game.

As for other game companies.. there's just too many to list along with their negetives. There's even more that I haven't had enough time with their games, or heard about them enough, to really make up my mind about them. Alot of PC developers fall into this category, since my PC has been crap these many long years.

Ness

Dec 18, 2004, 01:31 PM

I don't paly sports games so it doesn't affect me, but I have to agree with Anwserman on this one. The fact that EA has the right to all NFL stuff gives them pretty much a monoploy over football games. Sure people will still buy the third party stuff, but msot people will buy the EA games because they can use actual football player. This will also allow EA to jack up the prices and/or lower the quality of their football games.

Outrider

Dec 18, 2004, 02:35 PM

On 2004-12-18 02:09, _Sinue_ wrote:
Namco - Mainly because of a move they did back in the Dreamcast days. Soul Calibur would have been a huge hit on the PS2, and while other companies were flocking to put their "DC Exclusive" titles up on other platforms.. Namco actually stood by their word and left SC a DC exclusive. That move just kind of stuck in my mind.

Treasure - Mainly because they're more concerned with putting out great games, than mass-appealing games. They stay out of the hype, out of the BS, and just do what they do best.

UbiSoft - Again.. they have churned out so many A+ titles in such a short amount of time.. they're just unbelievable. While not all of their games make the grade, a good majority of them do. It really shows a comitment to quality, which is nice to see when I'm plunking down $50 a pop for a new game.

Well, I just find it a little odd, because I'm sure within five minutes on google, I could find news articles condemning each one of those companies in the same way other companies are being condemned.

(Actually... maybe not Treasure. They're a small development studio as is, and they don't even publish their own stuff.)

I'm not shooting down any of those guys. I personally like quite a bit of Namco's stuff, especially Soul Calibur. Ubisoft definitely has put out some surprisingly good games (along with some crap, but nobody's perfect.) Never played any Treasure stuff, but I've been dying to ever since I first read about Sin & Punishment. (That's one of their games, right? If not, then replace that with Ikaruga.) I'm just saying it's such a weird assortment of companies to be spared when there are other companies that really aren't deserving of the judgement just because of basic business maneuvers.

_Sinue_

Dec 18, 2004, 11:19 PM

Oh, I'm sure I could to (again, with maybe the exception of Treasure). I'm not saying these guys are saints of the video-game world, noone is. To me, it's a just a matter of which company hasn't pissed me off more than the others. Little things like Namco keeping their word to Sega at the cost of lost profit that puts them a little ahead of the others to me.

Keep in mind also, those are (with the exception of Treasure) just major publishers. It's really them who I have a problem with.. because I really do believe that noone goes into creating games with the goal of making sub-par rehashes, mass-market BS, and buggy games. It's because of deadlines, and budget cuts, and timidness brought on by the people who hold the money - the publishers.

As far as individual development studios go.. I really don't have a problem with them. Like in the latest case of raging hatred towards Sierra. It wasn't High Voltage Games which pissed on the grave of the Leisure Suit Larry franchise... they were just doing what they were told to by Vivendi Universal/Sierra.

Outrider

Dec 22, 2004, 12:55 PM

On 2004-12-18 20:19, _Sinue_ wrote:
Oh, I'm sure I could to (again, with maybe the exception of Treasure). I'm not saying these guys are saints of the video-game world, noone is. To me, it's a just a matter of which company hasn't pissed me off more than the others. Little things like Namco keeping their word to Sega at the cost of lost profit that puts them a little ahead of the others to me.

Keep in mind also, those are (with the exception of Treasure) just major publishers. It's really them who I have a problem with.. because I really do believe that noone goes into creating games with the goal of making sub-par rehashes, mass-market BS, and buggy games. It's because of deadlines, and budget cuts, and timidness brought on by the people who hold the money - the publishers.

As far as individual development studios go.. I really don't have a problem with them. Like in the latest case of raging hatred towards Sierra. It wasn't High Voltage Games which pissed on the grave of the Leisure Suit Larry franchise... they were just doing what they were told to by Vivendi Universal/Sierra.

Yeah. I can't imagine any actual game developer wanting to put out a crappy game. The one thing I see whenever I read interviews with different people in the industry is that you wouldn't put in all these long hours and stuff if you didn't honestly love what you're doing.

Oh yeah, and by the way - Apparently EA is becoming the majority stockholder for UbiSoft. So as cool as Ubisoft has been, I see EA corrupting them in the near future.

Which sucks, because they were one of the really cool non-Japanese publishers. I always saw them as the Good side to EA's Evil side.

Zzzzzz

Dec 22, 2004, 06:59 PM

Somehow, I can see in the far future, the only game companies would be Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA and all the companies EA owns.

Alielle

Dec 22, 2004, 09:19 PM

As someone who's (hopefully) going to be slaving working in the game industry soon, I can definitely say that I'm afraid of where things are going (http://www.igda.org/qol/open_letter.php). I really hate how it's become a huge industry with corporations buying up all the studios. A good example of this is Surreal Software - they used to be an independent local developer but Midway recently bought them out. I don't think the company structure has changed that much since then, but it's still unnerving to know that small publishers are slowly going extinct because of huge companies that have the capability to treat their employees like shit. EA's attitude seems to be, "Hey, there's thousands of people out there who'll do anything to work for us, so we don't have to do a damned thing." Small wonder that their employee turnover rate is so high.

I hope EA gets slapped with a class-action lawsuit.

Outrider

Dec 22, 2004, 10:59 PM

On 2004-12-22 18:19, Alielle wrote:
I hope EA gets slapped with a class-action lawsuit.

At this point, I don't even think it would make much of a difference.

Alielle

Dec 23, 2004, 12:01 AM

On 2004-12-22 19:59, Outrider wrote:

At this point, I don't even think it would make much of a difference.

You kidding? It would be the legal basis for game companies not to treat their employees like slaves. I think it'll be a really important case.

KodiaX987

Dec 23, 2004, 12:26 AM

Alielle = Teh Win. If EA or whichever proeminent game company becomes "The" one, then they get a huge advantage over their employees, because they'll have virtually nowhere to run. Employees will end up in a Microsoft-esque situation: there's only one thing you can go for and it happens to be a piece of shit.

Not a very cute perspective.

And Treasure is fully Japanese, so my only way of escape is a no-go. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

It's shitty, really. EA is accused of making their employees do 80-hour weeks. Everytime I hear of Ubi Soft, it's because they've sued some other company about copyrighted bullshit. Hating Microsoft is still trendy. And the chances of getting a game published are slim to none if you don't sign up with the big names.

Wait - I still have some Canadian company called BioWare I could run over to... http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Tempting!

Outrider

Dec 23, 2004, 12:46 AM

On 2004-12-22 21:01, Alielle wrote:

On 2004-12-22 19:59, Outrider wrote:

At this point, I don't even think it would make much of a difference.

You kidding? It would be the legal basis for game companies not to treat their employees like slaves. I think it'll be a really important case.

You're missing the point of my post. I'm saying that I think it would prove to be too little, too late. Some bad media, paying off a bunch of employees and ex-employees for the actual suit, and a shifting around of resources and a change in payment to these "non-overtime" workers...

And then they find another loophole and exploit it to their fullest benefit.

EA seems to have hit the point where not even a lawsuit will knock them off their high horse. Maybe multiple ones, but not every class-action is earth-shattering.

hollowtip

Dec 25, 2004, 03:47 AM

in a business perspective, The Madden franchise for EA is the cornerstone of their company, and with the momentum gained with ESPN's price drop this year, EA doesn't want to take any chances.

You have to admit this is an extremely smart move by EA. The company makes millions of dollars every year on the Madden franchise and they made a move to eliminate any competition.

Although I don't like this licensing contract, I'm not necessarily mad, because despite what many people's opinions are towards EA's games, they put out quality titles. It really sucks that this happened, but I liked Madden anyways, so I don't feel like it's a total loss.

kevlar_pso

Jan 5, 2005, 03:01 PM

On 2004-12-13 23:37, anwserman wrote:
Leave it to the dumbasses that reside on the PSOW forums to fuck this topic over. What I was ranting about is how EA got the exclusive rights to everything NFL - lock stock and barrel.

That, in the video-game sports market, would be the rough equivelent of a console maker getting legislation passed prohibiting any other console to exist in the US for 5 years... they'd get a monopoly on the market, jack up the prices and create shit since people wouldn't have anything else to turn to.

Or better yet, McDonalds buying every fast-food joint in the world. Since, ya know, their food is crap. They'd just have to raise their prices.

Since this thread was targeted at sports gamers I will reply and ignore any ignorant posts out there. I have been behind the 2K series since the Dreamcast days when NFL2K came out. I've seen it get better every year. Gaming Mag Editors and web sites have agreed and for the last few years have rated the Sega Sports 2K series above Madden.
I have explained to a lot of ppls I know the reasoning behind the 2K price drop to $20. To gain some market share of the football market from EA despite putting out a premium product every year.
Now we have EA getting under handed and shady by securing the rights to the NFL for the next 5 years. Not only does that piss me off as a consumer, but sports gamers will be forced to have an NFL video game w/out any competition to drive innovation and quality. Not that there won't be any at all. But now there is only one developer putting out the product instead of several.
I don't think that I can support any EA product that comes out because of their business practices.

Skett

Jan 6, 2005, 11:02 PM

I don't play football games so many this has something to do why I don't understand this but why is this that bad? I mean, most football games are the same. That is why they add those dumb little features like that room thing in ESPN football. Besides, I always thought Madden was suppost to be better, with the playmaker thing and all.

KodiaX987

Jan 7, 2005, 02:26 AM

The problem is this: if no one stops them from going football, what says they won't also gain exclusivity over hockey and basketball and baseball etc.

It doesn't seem like much, but the next thing you know, entire divisions are put out of business because they're forbidden from working on their moneymaker. Bye-bye, Sega Sports!

And there is the ever-mentioned motivation factor. If you're the only guy making the game genre, there is no incentive for you to try to make it stand out, because people can't buy anything else anyways. You could literally put out a piece of shit game and people would still buy it.

Outrider

Jan 7, 2005, 04:39 AM

I mean, I'm against EA on most levels, but what I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around is this:

Is purchasing exclusive rights to the NFL really that different from purchasing exclusive rights to say... The Lord of the Rings franchise or any other movie rights for that matter?

They're both essentially franchises, and I understand that an entire genre of games can be based around one of them... I dunno, it's just something I've been thinking about. Let's just say I'm pulling the ol' "devil's advocate" move.

Scrub

Jan 7, 2005, 06:47 AM

On 2004-12-15 03:51, _Sinue_ wrote:
Honestly, the only console gaming companys I have any respect for anymore are Namco, Treasure, and UbiSoft. I still love Sega.. but they've changed too much for me to respect them anymore.

I got an email from some gaming newsletter I must've signed up for and not realized, but I like it anyway

"Oh, and hey, while you were getting ready for the holidays, EA went ahead and helped itself to an heaping helping of Ubisoft. Now EA owns about a fifth of the company. Crazy. Will we see even more publisher and studio consolidation in 2005?"

._. I dunno if this was already said or not.

Outrider

Jan 7, 2005, 04:10 PM

On 2005-01-07 03:47, GreyPhantasm wrote:

On 2004-12-15 03:51, _Sinue_ wrote:
Honestly, the only console gaming companys I have any respect for anymore are Namco, Treasure, and UbiSoft. I still love Sega.. but they've changed too much for me to respect them anymore.

I got an email from some gaming newsletter I must've signed up for and not realized, but I like it anyway

"Oh, and hey, while you were getting ready for the holidays, EA went ahead and helped itself to an heaping helping of Ubisoft. Now EA owns about a fifth of the company. Crazy. Will we see even more publisher and studio consolidation in 2005?"

._. I dunno if this was already said or not.

BUT... the best part about this is that the French government is actually planning on stepping in to prevent EA's takeover of UbiSoft.