EA Sports Locks Up NFL License... Again
The gaming giant extends its exclusive agreement. Peter Moore interview included.
by Nate Ahearn
February 12, 2008 - In 2004 EA Sports shocked the world of videogames by announcing a deal with the National Football League that gave them the exclusive rights to publish games under the NFL brand. Gamers everywhere cried foul over the agreement that essentially took one of our most beloved football franchises, NFL 2K, out of the yearly grudge match. The original deal was signed through 2009 but today EA Sports announced that it's completed negotiations with the NFL and NFLPA (NFL Players' Association) to extend the exclusive license through the 2012 season.
IGN: So how does everyone at EA Sports feel about extending the NFL license through 2012 rather than the original 2009 season?
Peter Moore: Couldn't be more delighted. It allows myself and my teams to further invest in football on a longer-term investment horizon, to get after some new extensions of the NFL brand into interactive entertainment on top of our core Madden franchise which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming season and allows us to invest a little more globally as well. The NFL is very interested in increasing its global footprint around the world and sees us as an important partner in distributing games and being able to educate people as to how the game is played and allow them to have a broader base than just the North American that they enjoy right now.
IGN: Speaking a little more on the creative side and gearing your answer towards the consumer: how does this exclusivity deal benefit them to make Madden...
Peter: ...as good as it was this year!
IGN: Right, right exactly, but I mean back in the day with 2K and Madden it just seemed like their was more of a creative push for forward-thinking innovation.
Moore: Well, to be clear, remember it wasn't EA that demanded the exclusive relationship. The NFL requested it and did a research process for exclusive bids and so EA bid, as did other companies, and we were very fortunate to be able to get that exclusive arrangement. So, I want to make that very clear because I think there are some misconceptions sometimes that EA demanded the exclusive licensing for the National Football League and nothing could be further from the case. I think what's happened since then we've continued to invest; once you do get an arrangement like this clearly there's a price to pay for that and you need to make sure that you're continuing to build your franchise so that you can sell more copies so that you can obviously defer your costs from being the licensor. This year, and I jokingly said, "As good as this year," because it's been a phenomenal year and it's going to allow me with the team back at Tiburon in Orlando to now have a five-year strategy to not only continue to build on the MetaCritic ratings that we've enjoyed this year for Madden but also what kind of brand extensions can we do around the National Football League that, quite frankly, will bring in people that might classify themselves as non-gamers but are big football fans.
It's a big untapped market for us. I look at it from two levels: I think of people who look at playing a sports game as way too complicated, we have under-indexed on sports on the Nintendo platforms and we need to change that. And I also think that we need to bring football fans into our industry because I think it's a relatively easy portal to bring people into interactive entertainment because, you know, there's literally 120 million -- according to the NFL -- football fans and yet I can probably only count 10 million Madden Nation fans. So somewhere along the line there's something that I'm not offering that big group of people that I need to change. And you know the NFL is a huge proponent of doing that. We'll get better access to NFL Network and NFL Films content that might ease people into it but, you know, we've gotta bring more football fans into our industry and that's our commitment as EA Sports to do that.
IGN: I know that just recently EA Sports and EA in general has been gearing their efforts a bit more towards the casual market. Does this deal have any impact or ramification on that at all?
Moore: I wouldn't characterize it as "casual" because that's such a loaded term. I use the term around here of approachability. As a guy who has been around for a few years I watch people who look at a videogame console and then look at the people playing it and they stand back. It's not that we're getting people to sit in the couch and get the controller in their hands and having a go. I think that people are just intimidated by what we do as an industry because it just feels too hard. And then you look, in particular, and we're more guilty than anybody of this, you look at some of the menus that pop up during a sports game and it looks like the heads-up display on the space shuttle. I mean, you don't know whether you're calling a cover-two defense or accidentally blasting off into orbit. It's too complicated. Now, having said that, there's no intention of dumbing down the games for the 10 million people that love and actually thrive on the complexity of what we do in sports games and in Madden in particular. But I think we've gotta find, and we started doing this with Family Play, alternate entry points for consumers that love the idea of playing a football game but it's just too complicated for them as it currently stands.
IGN: You just mentioned Family Play on the Wii. Are we going to see a more family oriented approach branching out from the Wii and workings its way onto Xbox 360 and PS3 but maybe slightly less over-handed than what's on Nintendo's system because of the different target audiences for the respective systems?
Moore: The answer to your question is yes, and details to follow, but I think what we've learned is that, you know, I'm probably the best example, my son who is now 21 and a senior at Cal he and I have been trying to play Madden against each other for the better of a dozen years and it ranges from him toying with me and making me think I'm playing against to him absolutely crushing me. There has never been a way that I can have fun playing against him and this goes back to the PlayStation. And so Family Play allows me to, at least it allows me to think I'm having a good game but having different control mechanisms and recognizing skill levels is something we at EA Sports and I think the industry as a whole has gotta do if we're going to bring in broader consumers. It can't just be a dumbed down version of the game.
IGN: Right. Well, today we're obviously talking heavily about exclusivity and deals and whatnot. With Backbreaker showing -- I take it you're familiar with Backbraeker a little bit?
Moore: Oh yea.
IGN: Well they seem to be pushing technology forward a little bit, I don't want to say more so than Madden has, but they're hoping to reinvent the way football is played on consoles and they're doing this through new technology. I'm sure you're away of the new technology they're putting into it. Any aspirations of one day signing that technology to use in Madden or looking elsewhere for new technology ideas?
Moore: Yeah, I mean one thing we are working on -- again, no announcements here -- but I can tell you that we continue to look at physics engines and we're still not quite in the world of football videogames in true physics with regard to a player hitting a certain player at a certain angle and a certain speed and what have you, I think we're very good...
IGN: Definitely. Last year's game was as good as it has ever looked.
Moore: I've seen some things, and no announcements yet, but I've seen some things that will continue improving [on that]. It's the one thing that we look at every year, "How do we improve the physics of collision? How do we make it feel like it's truly a football game?" It's sometimes the one Achilles heel when you're watching a videogame versus watching the real game, I think we've got the graphics down pretty good but the physics are still, because it's such an interesting game in regards to the different angles you get hit at, it feels like no two tackles are ever the same and, you know, we've gotta be able to replicate that within our physics engine and we're on that.
__________________
Samsung HL-R5667W
Toshiba HD-XA1
Directv HR12-100S IXOS audio & video connectors
Monster Power HTS2500 HD DVD 58?
Mover's hustled most of my collection last year!
Haven't purchased a football game since the last 2K,and I guess it will be close to 10 years if EA keeps this up.Did you notice he covered his ass by saying the NFL approached us about an exclusive license???And this coming from the same company who tried to get exclusive with MLB,NHL and NCAA.I guess consumers shouldn't be the deciding factor.Manufacturers are dictating to us now by taking away our options.
__________________
Samsung HL-R5667W
Toshiba HD-XA1
Directv HR12-100S IXOS audio & video connectors
Monster Power HTS2500 HD DVD 58?
Mover's hustled most of my collection last year!
02-15-2008, 07:26 AM
EA Sports Locks Up NFL License... Again
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