Slashdot Mirror
Take Two Lands Exclusive MLB Deal
The deal reported last week on Slashdot has come to fruition: Take Two interactive and MLB have signed an exclusivity deal. Worthplaying has the news. "The innovative seven-year arrangement will dramatically limit the number of baseball video game manufacturers and ensure aggressive marketing and promotion of baseball video games, while promoting competition in the marketplace to drive innovation in baseball product development. Beginning in 2006, Take2 will have exclusive rights among third-party publishers to develop and market simulation, arcade and manager-style baseball video games..."
Can someone explain to me how "dramatically limiting the number of baseball video game manufacturers" will "promote competition in the marketplace to drive innovation in baseball product development"? Maybe I was asleep that day in ECON 101.
Oh wait, (not that I usually bash MS) but limiting choices to drive innovation is the new economy. Sorry... I forgot.
Todd
With EA being the new Microsoft, is this the new "patent" market place crippling? Seems it's heading that way.
I like muppets.
Take 3 Interactive retained an exclusive 6 year agreement from the US park service to build video games of watching grass grow...
Bullshit. Anyone can make a baseball videogame. It's rights to the use of MLB trademarks, logos, and other intellectual properties that have been auctioned here.
Read jack phelps dot net
How is a seven year licensing deal "innovative"? What's so innovative about a contract?
Lawyer 1: Ok, I've got this great idea... we'll buy the rigths to Major League Baseball for a period of seven years!
Lawyer 2: Seven years?!!? I've heard of five year deals, even ten year deals... but SEVEN?! That's so far outside the box we'll have to label it as 'innovative' in our press release!
Lawyer 1: What can I say? I'm a visionary. No longer will we be tied to 5 year intervals on licenses... it will liberate the industry from the chains of oppression!
EA annouces and agreement, in priciple, to purchase Take Two Interactive...
baseball games are easy to make. You hit a damn ball. How many new golf games are released?
What next? SSSSSSX Tricky Baseball pro underground 2?
Mod up your bat, and do break dance moves while hitting home runs into crowd of oiled up lesbians.
Get extra points for inventive sliding moves...
lets face it, baseball sucks.
Does baseball even have cheerleaders? (sorry I know nothing about american sports, so feel free to mod me down!)
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
I'm going to go burn down Take Two! Evil capitalistic pig-dogs and their exclusive deals -- you think that they were trying to do business and then they backstab all of us! Power to the people!
Karma whorin' since 1999
As long as whatever baseball games they produce still have the "Hit batter with pitch" and "Charge the mound" buttons, I'm fine with this.
As how software patents help innovation.
between different football games and different baseball games, it's between football games and baseball games, etc.
If you forget about the future, the future will forget about you.
MLB and the NFL may be hurting their popularity by doing this. All the companies left out of their exclusive deals aren't going to just let their game engines go to waste. Within the next few years we are probably going to see more NCAA games. Many people prefer watching the unpaid college athletes over the professionals anyway and these excluseive deals will make college sports more popular... it's free publicity for the NCAA.
I can see it now: Earl Weaver III:Knee Deep in Gore. The Yankees thought they were just going to play a little exhibition on the moon, and then all Hell broke loose (literally)! Now the only question is: Doom 3 or Source?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I've always hated baseball games anyway, it's just 1 button you need, not even a joystick.
1. Aim pitch with line that goes up down. (HIT BUTTON)
2. Pick speed with line that goes up down. (HIT BUTTON)
3. Swing (HIT BUTTON)
4. Run towards ball on ground (HIT BUTTON -REPEAT)
5. Throw to base (HIT BUTTON)
6. See Stats (HIT BUTTON)
7. Next inning starts.
In many years of playing baseball games I've grown weary of them altogether. Seems that major improvements have been made in gameplay and graphics, but the games still have a boring aspect to them - nothing really new. At least the football/basketball games incorporate different play options, Helmet-cams and enabled rough-housing.
Maybe if the stadium is in Liberty City and we have to run from the cops while running the bases it'll be a bit more entertaining... Who knows though.
Of course, maybe they'll surprise me and resurrect baseball gaming once again.
Damned Internet Explorer cache must be screwed up, it keeps displaying old Slashdot stories that I read a few days ago.
I like these deals because it forces some of the unliccensed game makers to make something other than rehashed versions of last years game.
People were bitching at EA for picking up the NFL exclusivity contract and talking about its unfairness to Sega. Yet, here is Take Two (who distributes Sega sports) doing the same thing. Moreover, Take Two tried to do the same NFL exclusive contract as EA got, they just bid less than EA. So are people starting letter writing campaigns into Sega?
As an interesting sidenote, the EA-NFL contract was completely exclusive. But here, it seems that first-party studios are not barred from making MLB games. I wonder if Microsoft put too much into buying the High Heat franchise to let that go?
Seriously, if only one company has the ability to make MLB games -- which doesn't mean others can't make baseball games, they just can't use the teams/players/logos/etc of MLB -- then others who want to make baseball games (EA, for example) will have to come up with other interesting gimmicks to make those games worth choosing over the ones that have MLB logos. In other words, they'll have to innovate a little and come up with something to make the game actually worth playing.
Uh way to get back at EA TakeTwo...corner the market on the least popular sports video game. If they wanted to have a good exclusive agreement they should go after the NBA, or NCAA. (I'm sure several companies are trying to do this as we speak....as competition is so out of style these days)
Imagine you are in public relations. Now imagine you tell nothing but lies. But I repeat myself.
In the wonderful world of "News" releases, up is down, SCO is a Linux company, our government is here to help us, and massive restrictions lead to innovation.
If you repeat a lie often enough, people forget the truth; eventually, the lie becomes Common Knowledge. Right now, the market seems rife with "Common Knowledge"-- like, the market will adjust itself because it's a "fair market", helping the rich get richer helps the poor get richer, and restrictions lead to freedom.
Ah, well. Such is life. As bad as it is, it still is pretty damned good. I mean, as long as you don't live in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Uzbekistan...
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I can understand why the exclusive deal makes sense from Take 2's perspective. Can someone explain to me how MLB would make more money licensing ONE company to do games than it would licensing MANY companies to do games?
I don't think Take 2 alone could give MLB more money than, say, MS, EA, Vivendi, etc combined all doing their own licensed games.
For at least 7 to 15 years, anyway. It's annoying that the companies with the games of lesser quality are the ones coming out on top with the licenses, considering IMO ESPN NFL> Madden MVP Baseball > ESPN MLB I would hang myself (or just hang others. More fun that way) if 989 had bought the rights.
In other news, EA is considering buying out Take Two Interactive to gain the MLB license back and "drive competition"
I don't think we've hit rockbottom yet.
You'll know we're there when [insert company here] makes a [# of years] deal with the US Curling Assoc.
Slashdot is kind of like Playboy; we aren't here to read the articles.
Now all they need to do is beat EA to securing rights to making hockey games using the NHL license. In light of the league's current situation, they should be able to get it for a song.
Any game you play with buttons sucks. That's why I never got a console, I don't want no fucking "joypads". Just try to play "Grand Prix Legends" without a force feedback wheel and you'll see what I mean.
This is an impending disaster for the gaming marketplace.
First it was EA with the NFL license. We know why they did it: the ESPN line of games was eating into their profits bigtime, and had exposed the fact that $20 for a barely updated annual game is more than enough to charge.
2003
Madden sales 5,000,000
ESPN sales 450,000
2004 (through Nov)
Madden sales 3,000,000
ESPN sales 2,000,000
Now Take 2 tries to counter EA by inking this deal.
This is a horrible trend and I don't see it being reversed unless consumers vote with their wallets.
-Michael
Threshold RPG
Have they patented it yet?
sjees
I didn't read all of the parent's post before replying, thus repeating part of his post!
Even lazier than not reading the article.
I'll take you to the ball, Barbara Manitee!!!
Since when is limiting competition innovative? Its a shame there isnt a law against spewing such bullshit.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
It's about the banning of steriod sales, which went into effect recently. There's only enough for so many games. Quoting from a quote in the SJ Murky this Sunday:
Of course, you'd think Baseball would only be too happy to license with as many game makers as possible, as they really need the money.
*sniff* poor ole roger clemens, having to get by on only 18 million $ for one year of pitching *sniff* *honnnnnkkkk*
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
In other news, I've personally signed an exclusive deal with the NHL to develop and market simulation, arcade and manager-style hockey video games that let you re-live the excitement of the 2004-2005 NHL season.
Oh. I wondered who was buying, re-labelling, and re-selling those old "Tiger Woods 2002" game CD's. What better way to show what the players and owners did during the 2004-2005 season!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
So are there enough loopholes to allow MS or Sony to publish EA's MLB game?
The NHL and NBA probably won't be dishing off to exclusive agreements anytime soon. They make more money doing individual licenses, although deep down I'd like to see Sega keep NHL, even if they didn't, maybe they'll release an NCAA Hockey game finally.
I've actually spent some time in the UK teaching some British relatives how to play baseball. (Way back when) And sadly enough, at least one of the girls was about that age. Not only did she like it, but she kept comparing it to Rounders. Damn your accuracy. *shakes fist*
--LordPixie
In an innovative move, I have patented innovation. And then in another one of my patented moves, I patented the concept of patents.
:-? ??==___fuck off____
::ahem:: im sorry, but EA deserves this one, they just made a good baseball game, and now its all over for them in terms of a licensed game. This isnt as important as Football but its still pretty big. Go Sega/Take 2
... so there's a sports license that EA hasn't bought the exclusive rights to in perpetuity?
It won't be long before someone just spites them with a Virtual League Baseball or something.
Besides, if I liked sports (which I don't) I think I'd almost prefer a sports game based on fictitious self made teams, personally trained and built up through hours of gaming just so I could take my memory card over to my friend's house and watch our teams duke it out.
The more these games try to mimick the stats of the real teams, from likeness to abilities, the less personal each game player's team becomes.
It's like the difference between a self made character in an RPG, or playing a famous character from a fantasy novel. At least for me one just has more appeal than the other.
Screw MBL, NHL, NFL, NBA, etc.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
I just hope this brings about the return of the greatest baseball game ever Base Wars
Don't forget Bonds upted out of the MLBPA licensing a greement, so he won't appear in any MLBPA licended goods, unless they (Take-2) sign him individually, which opens up a whole other can of worms (Non-MLBPA licensed players cannot appear in mechandise w/ MLBAP licensed players according to MLBPA licensing contracts.)
8 4
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=17770
The reason I say that is because while there have been 2 or 3 good NFL games out on the market in the past 4 or 5 years, it's really been AGES since someone nailed it in designing a good baseball game IMHO.
Triple Play went form bad to worse... High Heat came close but always had nagging, dumb problems...
So I'm not entirely sure why this would come to fruition. Is it bad? Not necessarily. Maybe we'll even get a decent MLB game out of it finally.
However, it's not like it's been a strong market to begin with. I always said if ESPN/SEGA had pulled their heads out of their a** and concentrated just on making and establishing a superb MLB game line that then maybe they could take on the big boys at EA.
However, baseball has fallen quite a ways down the food chain now. Basketball, football, and even hockey and soccer games are more-popular now. SO they get attention first, and then whatever's leftover goes to baseball.
People get excited about preordering Madden or NHL or Live, or even FIFA. People don't get excited about preordering a baseball game.
I'm wondering if MLB simply woke up finally to this realization of the waning popularity of their sport and decided to cash in while they could.
-- Primis.
We've all missed the logical next step. NCAA College Baseball! No one has made that yet! The Road to Omaha!
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
1. The last good baseball game I played was on the colecovision.
:p
2. Thank god for modchips.
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
I couldn't wait to buy EA's new baseball series this year, MVP baseball. Unfortunately it really wasn't so good. I don't think that baseball translates well to video games because the live action isn't as gripping as football or hockey. For whatever reason, baseball and basketball games seem to lag behind football and hockey in terms of exciting game play. Anyway, we as consumers know that competition is always better than exclusive deals like this. I think MLB and the NFL are feeling pressured because if they spread their licenses too thin, other developers will stop licensing the video games because there is too much competition for a finite number of video game dollars. Rather than having their license revenue stream risk drying up, they'll accept exclusive agreements as a known source of income over the long term.
I feel bad for a company like Strat-O-Matic Baseball which has been making a baseball simulation, first as a board game and later on the computer, for nearly 40 years. The computer simulation is probably the most complex baseball simulation out there and it produces a fairly accurate depiction relative to the events of the year. Too bad there a small company focusing on a niche market, I imagine they're about to get screwed :(
Beginning in 2006, Take2 will have exclusive rights among third-party publishers to develop and market simulation, arcade and manager-style baseball video games...
How can Take2 have the exclusive right to develop and market simulation, blah blah baseball game ? Someone actually owns a patent of the baseball game and has signed an exclusivity contract to allow people to play it ???
Please explain how is that stopping anyone from developping a new baseball game!
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
I read previously when this deal was rumored that this may also affect fantasy sports sites like yahoo and sandbox. Rarely do they use team logos (if ever) but they do refer to players in the MLBPA and report stats from major league games. I know there is a court battle going on saying that stats inc(the stats company that provides stats to most fantasy sites like sandbox and television broadcasts like the cubs on WGN) is arguing that stats from games are based on factual events and can not be claimed as intelectual property.
In response to some of the previous posts about the simplicity of baseball games I have to disagree. I'm a pretty big baseball fan and I really like some of the more advanced baseball games like EAs series. They bring more of the pitcher hitter battle into it where you are changing speeds location and pitch selection. You control whether you try to pull the ball or go the opposite way. You can choose slide types to break up double plays or avoid tags and everyone can jump dive and reach for balls.
Overall I really felt like baseball games were going in the right direction and I hope this doesn't change that. That said one of my favorite baseball games was called(I think) world series baseball for the sega dreamcast and it was done by sega sports.
I dont know how many people remember back in the SNES days there were some really horrible licensed sports games. They were just counting on the names and trademarks of teams to sell units. So it turned out that the non-licensed games 9 times out of 10 were much more fun to play because they depended on gameplay rather than fanatic sports fans. I expect all this deal will do is inspire the other gamemakers to take it up a notch just to compete. If history repeats itself the only downside is that official sports games might suck for awhile.
Not to take any thunder away from Take Two, but baseball? Seems like a small win considering EA's exclusivity deals as of late.
;-)
When someone get's exclusive publishing rights to Blernsball, then I'll be impressed
"My life, and by extension everyone else's is meaningless."
The only thing that will be lost is the true sense of realism in non-licensed games, but to be honest, I don't always want realism in the games I play. Sometimes irreverence is more fun :) I'll watch baseball on TV if I want realism.
I'm saving up my money for EA's NHLPA Lockout '05.
Trevor Linden, I choose you!
(Although being EA, I suspect the game will be wildly unbalanced in favor of the management).
This may help some egos over at Take Two, but seriously, this is just EA leaving some scraps on the table to give the illusion of a competitive marketplace. Is there any real reason to believe EA couldn't dominate video game baseball too? Once you dominate most of a sector, like video game sports, leave a few areas (less profitable ones) available for competitors so that no one can say you have a true monopoly. So this doesn't hurt EA and Take Two at least has a little good news for their shareholders. The only losers may turn out to be the fans who in a worst case scenario will get an inferior product at a higher cost. Oh well, play ball!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
...nobody cares.
You must think in Russian.
Wonder what this means to old-style baseball simulation game companies who happen to put out a computer version of their cards-and-dice games...all the talk here is about console games (which I guess is only to be expected from you whipper-snappers) but there's other companies out there that might be affected by this deal.
-=+>txtracer<+=-
-Those who do not learn from history are doomed.
Any game you play with buttons sucks.
Then why do you play this Slashdot game, which uses a 101-button controller?
Can't get Barry Bonds? They'll make a player that looks vaguely like a black version of Pierce Brosnan and call him Jimmy Bonds, wearing number 007.
Oops, Sorry! I read that as: Take Two `Interactives' and Call Me in the Morning... Nevermind.
When is the US Army going to sell its exclusive rights to EA?
I was ready to pitch the whole thing to MLB:
As team physician you must successfully manage the intake of performance enhancing drugs, moving blocks of power pills, rotating energy enhancers to line up properly with your stack of super steroids. All the while, under the threat of your opponent getting an amphetamine bonus booster and burying you under mountains of low protein, carb rich snack bars.
Well, the deal only says "third-party" exclusivity. As said in this article: "However, the Take-Two/MLBPA deal is not totally exclusive, as the EA/NFL agreement was. "At the same time, manufacturers of video game systems will have the opportunity to develop and publish baseball simulation games for their own platforms," read the statement. That caveat is significant since one of the most popular baseball series, MLB, is published by Sony and internally developed at its 989 Sports studio." So, it's more of a "screw you, EA" move than anything else.