EA inks exclusive deal with AFL

Arena Football 2006 from EA

Another Exclusive Football Deal for EA

Having already secured the exclusive rights to the NFL, Electronic Arts has today partnered with the much less popular Arena Football League (AFL) to exclusively produce an AFL video game in time for the start of the 2006 AFL season.

Under the terms of the agreement, EA will also share in the proceeds of future expansion team sales.

"We believe that the business model the AFL has created will provide for a new football experience for videogame fans, and provide EA with an incentive to partner with the AFL to expand the league," said Larry Probst, Chairman and CEO of EA. "The AFL is a unique brand of football and we intend to deliver a unique football gaming experience from any the industry has seen before. We're pleased to be working with the league during this exciting growth-period for the AFL."

"Once again, we are partnering with an industry leader who believes in the AFL philosophy and its growth potential. To the extent that EA helps grow the AFL, they participate in that growth through the increased value of future expansion teams," said Commissioner David Baker. "EA is the videogame industry's gold standard. Arguably, nothing is more important to reach the younger male demographic that we are so strong in than video games. For our core fan, this is akin to a network-television agreement."

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Monday, January 10, 2005



http://biz.gamedaily.com/articles.asp?article_id=8667#8667

 

damn... they're kicking the shit outta the competition... and its BS the way they're doing it.

 

I doubt there was much competition for an AFL game. This is just a fucked up way of preventing other companies from making licensed games.

This is how EA operates. They rely heavily on marketing and licensed games to even have a chance of selling their shit. They already own the rights to NASCAR and a few other leagues, plus movies like James Bond, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. Then when they buyout other companies, they slap their name on it...like battlefield 1942 and the Burnout series. Now they are trying to takeover Ubisoft.

Sega/VC could still make a better football game than EA even if it is unlicensed, however most people love to get the NFL games.

 

Where is the DOJ? Thought they disliked software monopolies..

Oh wait, that only applies to companies in Redmond, WA

 

I talked to a microsoft rep at work, and he claimed that Sega had a loophole. Apparently their contract with ESPN, who has a contract with the NFL, allows them to continue manufacturing NFL games. I do not know if that is true or not, just thought I would let you know.

 

Would be interesting, but from what I hear Sega is not going to have an NFL 2K6 which is a shame because it was a good product. Madden 2005 was good as well, but I think that was only because Sega pushed them. EA has a track record of resting on thier laurels in the face of no competition.

I know Microsoft got out of the NFL business not only because of the EA exclusive rights deals but also because EA would not make thier games XBOX Live compatible until Microsoft agreed to compete less.

There is more than enough of the pie to go around for everyone. I have always owned both the Sega and EA football titles because I live the genre and each has thier own pros and cons. Now I am stuck listening to Maddens unispired sound clips for ever more...

 

well apparently, many of the studios that made Microsoft's sports games were sold to Take Two. They were planning on being a big player in the sports genre since they were going to take over visual concepts from Sega. Wonder how this scared EA so bad.

 

Sega released its sports titles for $19.95 and EA was foced into a price compeition. Now for the football exclusive deal they can stay at $49.95. Expect exclusive deals with the NBA and MLB real soon. I think it was this point alone that Sega wanted to lower the entry costs into video games that got EA so ready to pull out the wallet.

 

I think EA was looking at it like... well they can't touch the NFL... they may try to create an AFL port since the NFL is unavailable... so lets scoop that up too.

 

well i personally dont care about a real league license. I actually like simming years ahead and drafting my own guys. If the next ESPN game is with fake guys..fine. I'm sure it would still be better than madden, game wise.

People will now buy madden more because of the NFL deal. Also, EA could push the game up to $60 if they wanted too.