No Stopping EA

EA and NFL Ink Exclusive Licensing Agreement

Electronic Arts has signed the biggest sports free-agent on the market. In a devastating blow to competitors--and in a deal sure to reshape sports gaming--the software giant signed an exclusive agreement with the National Football League and the NFL Players Inc., a subsidiary of the NFL Players Association.

The deal, one EA admits to having lobbied for over the past few years, is an exclusive five-year licensing deal granting EA the sole rights to the NFL's teams, stadiums, and players.

The arrangement encompasses action simulation, arcade style, and manager games made for PCs, consoles, and handhelds (both the DS and PSP, included), giving EA a firm hold on the football gaming market. The deal does not include titles for mobile phones or internet-based games, but does include online features of consoles. With next-generation consoles scheduled for release next holiday season, EA looks to handily dominate the professional football market for the duration of the license.

This is probably the smartest move EA has ever made, and if you're a follower of the game industry, you know they've made quite a few good ones over the years. Just think about it: they don't have to worry about other football series chipping away at their marketshare (ESPN Football primarily), they don't have to concern themselves with Madden's sales being affected by the massive upcoming MS/Sony/Nintendo battle in the next console generation, and they basically have creative control over the development of football games for the next five years (since people won't buy anything else).

While I don't necessarily hate EA and I don't subscribe to the belief that the Madden series is the same game in a shiny new package every single year, the devs do tend to get complacent at times. They really had to get their act together during the PS1 days when NFL Gameday came on the scene and this gen with ESPN Football making great strides, particularly this year with its budget pricing and Xbox-exclusive features. I don't hold a grudge against EA for the popularity of the Madden franchise, but it does annoy me that people still buy the newest installment even in "off years."

This phenomenon was already a problem before, but now with this announcement, people are going to be even less-inclined to evaluate each year's football games on their own individual merits.

The big questions I have are why didn't we hear about anyone else making a bid for the exclusivity rights, and why didn't one of the "Big 3" go after the rights as well? Hell, Microsoft could have paid out the ass for exclusivity and then basically told EA, "Here's the deal: we'll let you use the NFLPA license, provided that it's only incorporated into the Xbox Next version of Madden. If we see a single NFL player name in a Playstation 3 game, we're completely taking away your use of the license and giving it to Sega and Visual Concepts to use as they please. Or using it for our NFL Fever series."

Of course, Sony or Nintendo could have employed the same strategy as well to try to get the upperhand on Microsoft, unless there are some unknown licensing issues I am unaware of that would prohibit such a strategy, but you get the point. If one of the Big Three somehow managed to obtain this NFL license and subsequently "coerce" EA into their corner for the next generation, they'd already be at a massive advantage.

It's plainly evident that EA felt threatened by the recent success of the Take Two/Sega/Visual Concepts ESPN Sports titles and responded with a “preemptive strike” so to speak, like an emperor sending an army of 10,000 troops to quash an uprising of a few hundred people - to ensure that a small skirmish does not eventually lead to a full-scale rebellion.

As a businessman, I must tip my hat to EA. However, as a gamer, I am simultaneously infuriated, disgusted, and dejected.