ESPN NFL 2K series are over for now....

EA buys the rights to NFL including player names, stadiums, team names and NFLPA.That means there will be legends with their real names. Bad thing is no more ESPN NFL 2k series

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/13 ... 14977.html

http://www.info.ea.com/news/pr/pr569.pdf

MADDEN RULES

So low...

This was, in my opinion, the first year where we had two great football games. What Madden lacked, ESPN NFL had, and vice-versa.

I really just can't believe this. Competition is what made these games great. Now, Madden can just put out the same game for the next five years and make millions.

I didn't know the sports game industry could be so dirty.

agreed- i bet alot of the sales for both came from spite or negativity for the other- if i had a ps2 or xbox, i'd be getting espn nba 2k5, just because of all the debate over which is better

good thing i don't like football...looks like the game's going down the tubes

that is pretty shady, business is biz but i mean creating a monoply for nfl football just seems like a negative for the future of football games. they can sell the game for as much as they want now. i would expect the price to go up a bit next year.

Awesome business decision...but i loved espn nfl 2k4. Maybe more recourses can be put into nba 2k6? who knows... but i'll be buying madden next year.

Maybe sega will make a game without the players union, ala madden back in the day?

EA loses some respect for microsofting the bisnes. let's hope that this doesn't happen with NBA

EA loses some respect for microsofting the bisnes. let's hope that this doesn't happen with NBA

yea lost a bit of respect from me, Madden Still rules... but comeon. at least we'll have legends in the rosters yay. ESPN and Madden shoudl get togather and make 1 awesome NFL/NBA game in 06.... not gonan happen... but would be awesome *thinks*

I'm just not going to buy a football game next year. I was talking with my friends and they agreed that they wouldn't by Madden next year because of this incident. It's all shady. If EA really wanted to call themselves superior, they should've tried actually making a better game.

Bucksfan is right. This creates a horrible monopoly on football games. It's the consumers who lose in this one. I wouldn't be surprised if they upped the price, and also charged more for online gaming off of this.

To Madden fans, good luck playing the same game for the next five years.

man this is awsome i have been playing madden since the start. u gotta laugh at the 2k seris for football being done. Now and can play with the really walter payton and Barry Sanders

Okay, I'll admit. I sold my ESPN NFL 2k5 to EB Games to get the rest of the money I needed for Madden.

Anyway, I think Madden owns, but I don't want to see a price increase. Now we have only one NFL game and if Madden raises prices, there really isn't much we can do if we still want to play football games.

You can play NCAA football

The NFL is to blame as much as EA if not more. After all, I think EA or Sega might have asked the exclusive in the past, but the league never granted it. Of course a company tries to beat the competition in any legal way, and buying the exclusive is legal. The NFL is the only entity in this business matter that had the control over competition. the NFL killed competition, not EA.

I'm just not going to buy a football game next year. I was talking with my friends and they agreed that they wouldn't by Madden next year because of this incident. It's all shady. If EA really wanted to call themselves superior, they should've tried actually making a better game.

I'm sure thats going to be a huge hit to EA

It's all business. If sega had the chance, they would have done the same thing. And remember, Madden has always been head and shoulders above live, and thats before sega came into the mix. EA realises if they bring out a shit versionj or two, people will stop buying it. It's not people HAVE to buy a new football game each and every year...

It's all business. If sega had the chance, they would have done the same thing. And remember, Madden has always been head and shoulders above live, and thats before sega came into the mix. EA realises if they bring out a shit versionj or two, people will stop buying it. It's not people HAVE to buy a new football game each and every year...

I realize it's all business, but it's still shady, and in my opinion, wrong. It could quite possibly put out VC and 989 entirely, due to the fact that they rely so much on their football games.

Madden has brought out a few shit versions. In fact, during the early 2000's, they were practically putting out the same game. Then, all of a sudden they realize that the only way they can continue making the same game every year and still benefit in sales, is to wipe out the whole competition.

I mean, people get pissed at the Yankees because of their ridiculous amount of money they spend, but it's not like they're putting the other teams out of business. This is what EA has practically done, and right now, I'm hating them more than I hate the Yankees.

I predict a $60 pricetag for Madden next year.

I heard that the NFL was pissed about royalties going down due to the low ESPN game price. WTF? This is how to deal with it?

Howdy folks...

This effectively kills off the NBA 2K series as well, maybe not 2K6, but after that. Sega was pretty much only making money off the NFL series, they already had plans to sell off VC/ESPN, and since EA is also eyeing NBA and MLB exclusive it could be mean the end of the entire sports genre. (As the IGN article hints) The cut to $20 was really a last ditch effort, EA just steamrolled them.

Nearly every company (EA, Sega and Sony) has made bids to get the NFL exclusive. The NFL actually asked the companies for it this time, EA outbid everyone, if it wasn't them, it would've been Sega or...*wince* Sony.

There's nothing shady about it, however. EA will probably keep Madden the same price, but I'm sure online charges will go up.

Making a football game without any licenses is an idea, but one that may not pay off. EA got the teams, players and even the stadiums. If Sega puts millions in resources to make the game, they will not recoup enough without the NFL license to make a profit. Midway may have the right idea however.

As DANet has pointed out elsewhere, EA already purchased NASCAR, FIFA, and the PGA Tour licenses and effectively destroyed competition in all those areas.

This is an NBA Live forum, but PRAY that EA doesn't get exclusive rights to the NBA.

You know, SEGA can always go the winning eleven route and change names stadiums slightly.
Raie Lewis, Donte Colpepper, Payton Manning, Ely Manning and such (purposely mispelled if you didn't get it!). It won't necessarily mean ESPN football is over. If it's truly gameplay that matters you wouldn't care...but then again, Madden has been far superior to espn football for a long time.. (I haven't played this year's...)
Well hopefully it doesn't decrease the quality of madden games, or even nba games. I really hope nba live doesn't go back to the shithole that was nba 2002 when they thought they had no competition.

How weird is it that SEGA's 19.99 plan backfired...really bad..

FIFA is horrible, Pro Evolution Soccer is so much better and PES is a threat to FIFA in soccer playing countries and FIFA Soccer has copied the shit out of it (Anywhere but US). If only people weren't so blind towards licenses and crap.

Nearly every company (EA, Sega and Sony) has made bids to get the NFL exclusive. The NFL actually asked the companies for it this time, EA outbid everyone, if it wasn't them, it would've been Sega or...*wince* Sony.

Exactly what I was saying. EA played it the same way Sega or Sony would have played it.

Truth is that this decision is bad from the customers' standpoint. When competition is shut down, prices go up and quality goes down.

Damn, I really hope it doesn't happen to the NBA, But unfortunatly I bet it will

Just thought this would be appropriate..I guess it would be fancier if I added an nfl logo and ea sports or something...but I'm too lazy..Somebody else will.

I mean, people get pissed at the Yankees because of their ridiculous amount of money they spend, but it's not like they're putting the other teams out of business. This is what EA has practically done, and right now, I'm hating them more than I hate the Yankees.

Why do you continue to be so blind? It was the NFL who was at fault and greedy here, not ea. It's not like EA said "give us the exclusive rights or we'll never make madden again'. The nfl offered this deal to everyone, and there was only going to be one winner (so all competetion would be gone anyway, depending who got the deal). This is not ea's fault.

But hey think of it this way: if nfl 2k series gets cuts, its possible ea will pick up some of those guys fors madden and we might see the best football game ever.

It's possible that the EA could hire some VC guys, but really, what are the chances of that? They're (from what I've heard) 60 million dollars in the red before they even finished competing their game.

EA was always pushing at the NFL to get their rights, and I'm going to put just as much as blame on them as I am on EA.

But really, is it wrong that I'm pissed because of this situation? I can be, right? ESPN NFL 2K5, in my opinion, kicked the crap out of Madden this year, and it sucks that they're not gonna be around anymore.

This could very well put an end to the VC and 989 entirely. It's going to be difficult to live on revenue from only the NBA, MLB, and NHL games. Hopefully, they'll kick ass in those departments for 2006.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be angry, I'm just saying your blaming the wrong company. The NFL should have allowed for sega and espn to have a joint license. But is that EA's fault? also think of this from a business standpoint (and this is all my assumptions, so it means its probably wrong). I dont think espn took that many customers away from madden this year. i think alot of madden gamers bought it becuase it was cheap, and out early. then they probably bought madden as well. I'm sure there are some people who only bought espn, but the ones espn looked to tap into with the cheaper price tag probably got both.

This isnt ea's fault. They did what they had to do to survive. blame the nfl, they screwed espn gamers, not EA.

Well from what I've heard, regarding the 2005 competition, ESPN was selling more than Madden was. The figure that EA gave regarding their Madden sales was misleading, as in that was the number of copies actually sold to stores, rather than people.

At a business perspective, I completely understand, but when I look at it from my own view, my own morals, my own opinions, it's just shady. You say that EA had to do this to survive, which is just bullshit. How about putting out a better game? If you were to factor a better overall game with it's already "EA Sports-Eye Candy," they could've destroyed the competition, just not litterally.

Bottom line, in my opinion, is that the consumers have gotten screwed here. Not only the thousands of ESPN fans, but also the Madden fans. This monopoly is just another excuse for EA to put the same game out for the next five years.

Just thought this would be appropriate..I guess it would be fancier if I added an nfl logo and ea sports or something...but I'm too lazy..Somebody else will.

here ya go...


I think EA has seriously run out of things to put into Madden to make the game new each year... so what did they do they will now have legends for Madden 2006. This also kills off the competition, so they will get the Sega customers too. I think that they will probably bring the prices back to $50 and figure they will make most of their money from the new customers from Sega