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FTA: "In 2004, EA paid the NFL a reported $300 million-plus for five years of exclusive rights to teams and players. The deal was later extended to 2013. Just like that, competing games went kaput." They became a monopoly.
They bought the exclusive contract to the NFL when they faced a challenge from 2K games. That's how this dynasty stays around.
There's this odd little rumor/story that gets passed around from time to time that Madden, deep down in the core of its object code, is still running the SNES game engine from the 1990s. From a blog somewhere else: "Madden 2015 has a long, dark history. Inside its inmost code, there's a tiny copy of snes9x, linked to a tiny virtual display, used only in memory, never shown to the user. This arrangement has been used…
They bought the exclusive contract to the NFL when they faced a challenge from 2K games. That's how this dynasty stays around.
I don't think that's adequate, that explanation is buck-passing. The NFL doesn't care about Madden or EA, it just cares about making money; if someone else offered it more money, they'd sell the license to them. So why has EA been able to keep paying the NFL's bill and keep the fanbase to pay it off? It looks like they've been able to build a brand, and have invested a ton in constant finetuning and additional footba…
I've bought Madden every year up to 2015 and personally call bull shit on the idea that EA has continually added value to the franchise. They've added Ultimate team, a feature that lets users purchase players and bet on online games (it uses virtual currency so it's not gambling right!), as well as a handful of small feature improvements year over year... that's it. The biggest sell year on end is roster updating and graphics tweaks.
TLDR; used to buy Madden every year, now I categorically don't.
They bought the exclusive contract to the NFL when they faced a challenge from 2K games. That's how this dynasty stays around.
Yeah, really not much of a story here: EA has an exclusive license for an incredibly popular American sport. Sports and video games are right in the young-male, demographic wheelhouse
They bought the exclusive contract to the NFL when they faced a challenge from 2K games. That's how this dynasty stays around.
I don't think that's adequate, that explanation is buck-passing. The NFL doesn't care about Madden or EA, it just cares about making money; if someone else offered it more money, they'd sell the license to them. So why has EA been able to keep paying the NFL's bill and keep the fanbase to pay it off? It looks like they've been able to build a brand, and have invested a ton in constant finetuning and additional footba…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's adequate, that explanation is buck-passing. The NFL doesn't care about Madden or EA, it just cares about making money; if someone else offered it more money, they'd sell the license to them. So why has EA been able to keep paying the NFL's bill and keep the fanbase to pay it off? It looks like they've been able to build a brand, and have invested a ton in constant finetuning and additional footba…
For one EA is ~3 times the size of Take Two interactive (parent of parent of 2k sports). Logic would dictate they just out bid on the rights to Madden each and every year. I've bought Madden every year up to 2015 and personally call bull shit on the idea that EA has continually added value to the franchise. They've added Ultimate team, a feature that lets users purchase players and bet on online games (it uses virtua…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's adequate, that explanation is buck-passing. The NFL doesn't care about Madden or EA, it just cares about making money; if someone else offered it more money, they'd sell the license to them. So why has EA been able to keep paying the NFL's bill and keep the fanbase to pay it off? It looks like they've been able to build a brand, and have invested a ton in constant finetuning and additional footba…
For one EA is ~3 times the size of Take Two interactive (parent of parent of 2k sports). Logic would dictate they just out bid on the rights to Madden each and every year. I've bought Madden every year up to 2015 and personally call bull shit on the idea that EA has continually added value to the franchise. They've added Ultimate team, a feature that lets users purchase players and bet on online games (it uses virtua…
That is still not an explanation. If Take Two Interactive can make more money off a NFL-licensed game than EA can, then the NFL will go with them; and if EA pays more for the NFL license than EA can make, then they are losing money each year, and potentially an enormous and crippling amount. There is no evidence they are bleeding constantly like you seem to postulate.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's adequate, that explanation is buck-passing. The NFL doesn't care about Madden or EA, it just cares about making money; if someone else offered it more money, they'd sell the license to them. So why has EA been able to keep paying the NFL's bill and keep the fanbase to pay it off? It looks like they've been able to build a brand, and have invested a ton in constant finetuning and additional footba…
Given that the contract was for 5 years initially, then extended another five and now it looks like another three at least I'd argue that it's plenty of explanation for why Madden is dominant. In the time that contract takes to expire it makes it completely unfeasible for any company to take on EA because no one will have Football game tech like Madden.