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NBA Rejects EA Deal
PuppiesOnAcid writes "Although the NFL buckled under EA's mighty stronghold in the video game football market (Madden), the NBA has chosen to reject EA's exclusive rights deal. Jon Robinson explains, 'One of the reasons is that the NBA Live series simply doesn't have a stranglehold on the market the way Madden has for years, so by signing an exclusive deal with EA, the NBA would actually be losing money.'"
The NBA probably just couldn't handle the violent level of EA's tough corporate culture.
NBA said "No, that's way too realistic."
No worries about this happening with the NHL. Pro hockey does not exist OUTSIDE of videogames at this point!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
They rejected it because it would not have made them enough money. If it did, they would sell in a heartbeat. The NBA doesn't care about our selection, our opinions, especially when will buy it anyway. Really, how many people are going to say "I'm not buying Madden 20xx because EA sucks!!" Probably not enough to impact anything.
Apparently, you don't know what a monopoly is.
Anyone else is free to make a football game(and others do), it's just that EA has paid the NFL for the exclusive right to use team and player names in their games.
Even IF the NBA signed a similar deal with EA, other people would be free to develop other basketball games.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
The NFL was not crushed by EA's awesome might. EA decided to pay the NFL an ungodly amount of money for exclusive use of properties that they own. The only thing the NFL cares about is money. It doesn't matter to them what the ESPN game will do. It doesn't matter to them how powerful EA is.
You don't need an NFL licence to make a good football game. I think they should make a "Historical World Leaders Football 2K6," because I want to hear the phrase "Zone Blitzkrieg."
EA also steadfastly denied making the Madden deal for months on end up until the press release actually came out.
Don't believe everything EA says.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
Gee, I so love it when people think they are holier than thou! It makes it so much more delightful to point out their "inaccuracies".
According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, a monopoly is defined as:
Hrm, let's see: EA controls for the next half-decade the exclusive rights to the NFL teams, players, logo, etc. They were trying to get the exclusive rights to the NBA teams, players, logo, etc. By WHAT stretch of any imagination does this sort of arrangement NOT meet definitions 1 and 3 above, if not 2 as well? If you define the commercial activity or commodity as "officially licensed football or basketball games with real life, actual players and teams", then you just defined a monopoly, whether you like it or not.
And although you contend that other people are free to make football games, lest we remind the world that other people have been free for over 20 years to make other operating systems, yet how many have truly succeeded and excelled against Microsoft? Not many, if any, could truly be said to succeed (in the sense of achieving more than 50% market share). There are few who would deny that Microsoft isn't a monopoly -- and this is the same situation. Sure, you can make another generic football game, but I guarantee you there is enough of a sizable population that enjoys sports games for having their favorite team/player in them that EA's deal will push out the competition slowly but surely. Those of us who appreciate a quality game don't care - but we're not enough of the buying population to make a dent, otherwise the annual Madden shovelware wouldn't succeed as well as it has against the quality offering by Sega.
Maybe part of the problem in the business world these days are enough people don't recognize a monopoly as it's forming, but only well late after the fact. This is the beginning of a true monopoly (especially considering the aggressive takeover tactics EA is using, and their labor practices, etc) - and apparently too many people aren't seeing this already.Londovir
"Although the NFL buckled under EA's mighty stronghold in the video game football market (Madden)"
This statement is not true. The NFL solicitied bids for video game exclusivity. The NFL now is preferring to do everything they possibly can with exclusive deals.
I don't know how Slashdotters allow people like PuppiesOnAcid to spread such lies.
Good God, man, have you forgotten about Double Dribble? It did not have league teams/players, and it, many would argue, was the pinnacle of basketball console games.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.