Midway Fine with NFL Split

JoeyPea writes "As seen on the front page of The Futon Critic and mentioned in this IGN article, Midway Games is apparently fine with EA's exclusive rights contract with the NFL. The complaints on the last Blitz were that there wasn't enough unecessary roughness that the franchise was previously known for. But now it looks like there won't be any pansy hits because of the NFL's licensing rules. The Blitz: Playmakers write-up mentions drug use and off-the-field habits, so perhaps you can expect more realism from Midway without the NFL's license."

Comments

Re:Translation:

[Jane_the_Great]

The NFL won't back out of this agreement. It's a clear cut case of the NFL choosing to make a business move and screw the fans - regardless of the spin Upshaw tries to put on it.

And the average fan isn't going to raise a stink about it [boycotts of NFL products], they'll just plop down their cash for Madden and be on with it. I've always liked the Madden series better but this gives me serious pause to consider whether I will be buying any football game next year.

It was also hinted that EA might be in negotiations to get a similar deal from MLB - which would be absolutely horrible because MVP Baseball is so bad, especially in comparison to Sega's much superior offering. Oh well, big business fucks over the little guy yet again...