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Take Two in Talks with Major League Baseball
After EA's ESPN announcement yesterday, it hardly comes as a surprise that GamesIndustry.biz is reporting a possible deal between Take Two Interactive and Major League Baseball. The deal, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, appears to be for exclusivity rights similar to EA's arrangements. While the move wouldn't hurt EA's baseball franchise, it would squeeze out other competitors who have used the MLB license in the past.
A deal with MLB would just prevent them from using the Team names. Anybody remember Tecmo Baseball on the NES?
Depending on the details of the sports collective bargaining agreement - licensing of league properties (team names/logos, stadia) may be separate from that of the players names.
I know this has been the case with MLB in other areas. Ever gotten those free baseball cards in a cereal box or something? You know, the ones with the team logos airbrushed off the players' caps. That was because the company producing the cards had permission from the players union, but not MLB.
Generally in MLB, the players union controls licensing of player names, including for video games. Since Barry Bonds pulled out of the union to have control of his own licensing, video games have replaced him with fictional versions. Other players (like Kerry Lightenberg, formerly of the Braves) have long been replaced with fictional versions in video games because they were banned from the union. (Lightenberg and others crossed the picket line during the '94 strike, thus the ban.)