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Take Two in Talks with Major League Baseball

Posted by Zonk on from the hit-back-with-a-bat dept.

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.

7 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. This would hurt EA by crunk · · Score: 2, Interesting
    the move wouldn't hurt EA's baseball franchise

    Why not? EA won't be able to use real players in their baseball games. That will definately hurt them.

    --
    It's the battle of the minds, and everyone's unarmed.
  2. Reactions... by bje2 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I don't know what the numbers are like, but i'm guessing this isn't as big of a deal as the NFL contract...something tells me that there are a whole lot more copies of Madden and ESPN2kX football being purchased then that are of MVP Baseball and it's cometitors...

    one thing i don't get though...the article says that
    "A deal between MLB and Take Two wouldn't change EA's plans in the area, though, as EA doesn't use the MLB branding on its baseball title, MVP Baseball - but smaller rivals in the sector would certainly be squeezed out, such as Sony's MLB range, the latest iteration of which is due out in March."
    ...but EA Sports titles would certainly be hurt, right? sure, they don't use the name MLB 2004, (like NBA Live and NHL 2004 titles) but they do use all of the players, and teams, and stadiums, etc...i would have to assume that if the exclusive deal went through, they would lose the right to all that content? right?...

    Somewhat related to this is the fact that just announced today MLB awarded exclusive rights to fantasy games to MLB's own MLB Advanced Media that controls MLB.com...presumably this means that other baseball fantasy game companies (ESPN, Sandbox, CBSSportsline, etc) would have to buy licenses from MLBAM in order to run fantasy games...
    --

    "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
  3. It doesn't use MLB branding? by spotter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the article claims that, but EA's web page for the title, clearly has the MLB logo

    http://www.easports.com/games/mvp2004/home.jsp

  4. This hurts consumers by teiresias · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think this endrun to sign exclusive deals is detrimental to the sports electronic gaming industry (admittely not my favorite but I enjoy the occasional game of EA curling as much as the next person). Exclusive deals lead to single lines of games. Exclusive deals curtail the inventive process and remove competition. It's not that this hurts EA, it's how this hurts consumers.

    Perhaps every sports game that comes out of this will be great but my money is on the fact that they will become stagnant and boring.

    --
    -Teiresias
  5. /me doesn't care by mr.+methane · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... since I've found that the presence of a high-recognition brand-name on any game almost guarantees that it's (A) boring, and (B) overpriced by about $20.

  6. Remember the good ol' days? by Mofo196 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remmber back when videogames didn't NEED a pro licence to be good? Those of us may recall games such as Double Dribble, Bases Loaded, Blades of Steel (otherwise known as boxing on ice) and the glorious Nintendo Ice Hockey?

    All of these games were great and didn't have one legit team.

  7. in related fantasy baseball news... by bbkingadrock · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If anyone is interested in rotisserie baseball, check this article out. Turns out there are some legal snafus about licensing. I play for free on Yahoo, and last year Barry Bonds was called "Outfielder" or "SF Outfielder" or something because of a licensing issue. It looks like some places will potentially lose their rights to use the players names.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news /story?id=1970454