Boycott Electronic Arts

[shmokes]

I was pissed when I found out that EA had bought up exclusive rights to the NFL.  It was clearly done in response to the fact that Sega not only released a superior football game last year with their ESPN NFL 2k, but released it at the budget price of $20.  Instead of viewing this as an opportunity to, you know, compete....make a better game, EA said, "Why make a better game when we have the money to put Visual Concepts (Sega's sports development house) out of business?"

So they bought up exclusive rights to the NFL license as well as the NFL Player's license, so no other company can use NFL logos, teams, player's likenesses, etc.  This deal is valued at up to $1 Billion dollars.  As if that wasn't bad enough, they now just announced a fifteen year exclusive deal with ESPN.  Hmm....what do you think all this will do to Sega's ESPN NFL 2k? 

EA is currently attempting a hostile takeover of Ubisoft, the company that brings us Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Beyond Good and Evil, Ape Escape and Rayman.  EA is a bad bad company that wants to use it's muscle and enormous bank account to eliminate competition so that it won't have to compete on, say, creativity and the quality of its products.

Don't get me wrong.  EA realeases some great content.  SSX, Madden, Burnout 3, The Sims.  Lots of good stuff comes from EA's studios.  But that's not enough for them.  When EA sees other companies releasing quality products to gamers they see a threat.  They see a company that is making money that should belong to EA.  They see a company that needs to be eliminated else EA will be forced to raise the quality of their games to the new watermark set by a competing company (which affects their bottom line).

Don't buy their games.  I know they make some good games, but there are plenty other good games out there and behavior like this should be checked by consumers.  EA used nothing but an enormous bank account to take away from us the best football franchise on the market.  That is a slap in the face to consumers.  I want to buy Madden because it's the best football game out there, not because I have no other option. 

Boycott EA.  Or modify your Xbox and steal EA games if you want to play them.  Don't give your money to a company that doesn't care about its customers.

[Edgedamage]

True about EA. But the same can be said for microsoft. Putting all the new EA games on bittorrents servers should help.

[GGKoul]

I for one say this move is a good one.  As EA has always had better gameplay then most games.  But sucked on the presentation of it.  I can't wait to see what  amazing things they bring out for the PS3 and Xbox2. 

Madden 2006 will be ok for the PS2.  But I don't think there is enough time for them to mix the ESPN presentation in to the Madden mix.

But Madden 2007 will be the best football game ever.  Can't wait....

Now if they get rid of Madden, then I think I'll Boycott EA.

[shmokes]

ESPN NFL 2k was the superior football game of 2004.  What makes you think Madden 2007 is going to be the bee's knees when there is no longer another NFL game in town?  Visual Concepts had them beat, not only in presentation, but in the gameplay dept.  Visual Concepts was the number one reason that Madden's game would improve.  It's this sticky thing called competition.  Now there is none.  Do the math.

[GGKoul]

ESPN NFL 2k was the superior football game of 2004.

[Hoagie_one]

monopolies are crap.  They might be pretty crap with nice graphics and cool NFL team and player names, but they are still crap

[fredster]

I really find it hard to care who makes the game.

These companies come and go all the time.  Nintendo tried to do the same thing some years back, before that it was Atari. 

I'll have to actually buy an EA game now just to irrate shmokes.  I think I'll buy them as gifts for the neighbor's kids birthdays and such.

All Hail the capitalists! 

[Hoagie_one]

we are all raised to play fair and love your neigbor but when it comes to buisness.....its everyone for themselves and the guy with the bigest bankroll wins

[GGKoul]

we are all raised to play fair and love your neigbor but when it comes to buisness.....its everyone for themselves and the guy with the bigest bankroll wins

Yep.

[fredster]

Corporations are born, they grow, they thrive, and eventually they die.

Atari. Coleco, Edsel.

If EA wants to bet $1 billion dollars (I say that while holding my little finger in my teeth) then go ahead. If their product doesn't sell, they will crash and burn.

It happens all the time. 

If the product isn't worth to somebody the price that is being asked, then it won't sell. That's capitalism.

If people are willing to pay more, fine. IF not, then the company folds.

You can't sell pushbuttons for Arcade Machines for $5.00 either.  If EA doesn't make the cut, then they go the way of Sega.

[Luxury]

Boycott EA.

[GGKoul]

Boycott EA.

[shmokes]

But in terms

[shmokes]

I've just been a EA supporter back in the C64 days and have purchased every Madden game from the beginning.

[Hoagie_one]

[GGKoul]

But in terms

[GGKoul]

I've just been a EA supporter back in the C64 days and have purchased every Madden game from the beginning.

[GGKoul]

[GGKoul]

Just want to say one thing about EA.  They seem to care who plays there's sports series of games.  Because when I last checked, EA was the only publisher releasing Football, Hockey and Basketball games for the PC.

[fredster]

Man Shmokes,

You can get really upset if someone disagrees with you.  First you assault IQ then go for a Diatribe of righteousness.  Way to rally support.  I bet your Utah red state buddies really love that about you don't they? 

Karl Marx said the same thing as Adam Smith didn't he?

There are several axioms of life.  Supply and Demand is one of them. I doubt very seriously if EA games is going to screw me. 

I think you need to chill and realize that you can't possibly make a bit of difference.   

But go ahead, rant. 

[Gunstar Hero]

I posted this in consoles too, but it's relevant here as well. 

EA is doing this because when the new EA football is annoounced it probably won't be "Madden" anymore. Why pay Madden for his name, ESPN for their name, and the NFL for exclusive rights on one title? Besides, rumor has it that Madden wants to retire anyways, and that would limit his effectiveness as a spokesman.

EA knows that without Madden's name, the football fans would reevaluate their game of choice, and with ESPN taking a big bite out of Madden's sales this year, they knew that they might lose those football dollars. Madden isn't all EA has, but it's bigger than MVP Baseball, which they've had locked up for a couple years, and they far from have a stranglehold on the NBA game, since the Sega Sports/ESPN 2K series has pretty much gone 50/50 with NBA Live since it went multi-platform.

Plus c'mon. EA has got to have something against SEGA. The Genesis basicially made EA Sports, but I think EA took it somewhat personally when SEGA brought out Joe Montana Football, a very similar looking game to Madden, back in 1991/92. When SEGA released Dreamcast, and looked to EA for sports support, EA not only turned their back on SEGA, but ripped them in interviews in gaming mags, all the while hyping PS2... the rumor there is, Sony gave them early dev kits and a lower per unit cost, so it would be easier to flood the market with EA Sports games. I don't know if that's true, but SSX was easily the most polished game at PS2 launch...  Now EA has basically managed to drive every other company out of the sports business, except SEGA. And lo and behold... SEGA actually carves out a foothold, while at the same time doing something EA doesn't want to EVER see... dropping prices. So what do you do if you're EA? Buy all of SEGA's licenses out from under them!!

Dirty business man.

[GGKoul]

EA knows that without Madden's name, the football fans would reevaluate their game of choice, and with ESPN taking a big bite out of Madden's sales this year, they knew that they might lose those football dollars. Madden isn't all EA has, but it's bigger than MVP Baseball, which they've had locked up for a couple years, and they far from have a stranglehold on the NBA game, since the Sega Sports/ESPN 2K series has pretty much gone 50/50 with NBA Live since it went multi-platform.

Well in the Baseball market, Microsoft is going to be challenging EA with their purchase of the High Heat franchise.

Hockey, Sega won this one last year and the year before.  I assume this will continue.  As EA all but forgotten Hockey over the past couple of years.

Football....

NBA - Sega 2k5 vs NBA 2005:  Too close to call

Soccer - Winning Eleven Series is much better then the FIFA series

[Luxury]

That is very true about John Madden.

[GGKoul]

That is very true about John Madden.

[Gunstar Hero]

Trust me, Madden is way more than just a name. I manage a game store, and every year I hear people say "If there's no Madden, I'm not buying it." when I'd suggest giving the SEGA title a try. But SEGA made such a great game at such a great price last year and released it three weeks early, so ALOT of players grabbed it thinking, "Ah, what the hell, it's $20 and will tide me over until Madden comes out..." and never came back for Madden! The Madden 2005 launch was the slowest Madden launch I ever had. You know EA felt the sting, and wasn't gonna just take it.

[Dartful Dodger]

Trust me, Madden is way more than just a name. I manage a game store, and every year I hear people say "If there's no Madden, I'm not buying it."

Every year there's no Madden, I'm buying it.

[darkmavis]

True about EA. But the same can be said for microsoft. Putting all the new EA games on bittorrents servers should help.

thats the ticket!!

[GGKoul]

Trust me, Madden is way more than just a name. I manage a game store, and every year I hear people say "If there's no Madden, I'm not buying it." when I'd suggest giving the SEGA title a try. But SEGA made such a great game at such a great price last year and released it three weeks early, so ALOT of players grabbed it thinking, "Ah, what the hell, it's $20 and will tide me over until Madden comes out..." and never came back for Madden! The Madden 2005 launch was the slowest Madden launch I ever had. You know EA felt the sting, and wasn't gonna just take it.

NCAA is a better football game then both Madden and 2k5..

[shmokes]

GGKoul, 

Okay...let's say that Madden has better gameplay.  There.   But EA's strong-arm, non-capitalistic business practices remain.  I don't think the virtue in EA's actions here hinge on whether Madden runs a meaner passing game than ESPN.  With that in mind I hand you the title of best gameplay for Madden 2005.  You should still boycott EA.
 

There are several axioms of life.  Supply and Demand is one of them. I doubt very seriously if EA games is going to screw me. 

Wow...that's deep fredster.  Excellent use of the word "axiom".    But considering that EA has already screwed you by making it impossible for Visual Concepts to continue delivering NFL games you're a bit late on that one.  Do you really think that Madden will be a $30 title after 2006?  Do you find it strange that VC can develop a game with gameplay on par with Madden, but with HIGHER production values, yet sell it for $20?  That's what competition does.  If VC were the only game in town ESPN NFL 2K would have cost $49.  But they had stiff competition so they lowered their price.  That lower price caused demand for Madden to go down, so EA lowered their price to $29.  That's the beauty of supply and demand. 

Why, in god's name, would EA continue to sell their NFL game at a budget price when they control the entire supply of NFL games? 

The next time you want to give me a lesson on capitalism or supply and demand go read your old micro-economics books.

The same goes for quality.  They only have to make their game good enough that it will continue to sell.  With VC in the picture they didn't just have to make a product that the public would like; they had to make one that the public would like MORE than the VC offering.  It didn't just have to be good enough to sell, it had to be good enough to be COMPETITIVE (another one of those key words)

Why does a hardcore liberal have to explain capitalism to a hardcore conservative? 

[GGKoul]

GGKoul,

[DrewKaree]

Has Madden actually said he's going to retire and take his name and go home?  Just rumor, no story to back it up?

Does anyone plan on axiom soon?

(good use too, no?)

[GGKoul]

Has Madden actually said he's going to retire and take his name and go home?

[crashwg]

Boycott EA.  Or modify your Xbox and steal EA games if you want to play them.  Don't give your money to a company that doesn't care about its customers.

You don't have to ask me twice.  I haven't bought any games since I got my PS2 modded. 

[fredster]

Shmokes,

It's simple. I won't buy it.  No demand because the price is too high, higher than anybody is willing to pay.

Same reason I don't go to watch football games at the stadium, the price is too high.

 I don't even buy new games at walmart.  I wait until 2004 to buy 2002 games for $5 at the re-run stores.

Ever hear of "do without" ?  If the price of the games is higher than people want to pay, they don't sell enough units, etc.  People will go to the baseball games, or hockey, or maybe Mame.

It's true capitalism. In this case study, EA spends big money and if they fall apart and there are new players in a year or two. It's an adjustment driven by the free market.

Are you just upset because you have to spend another $15 dollars on a game? Do you really think that EA will actually corner some market anywhere?  Did you stop to consider the NFL's view on this? Why did they do that?  It's EA's gamble, and if they don't do well, they can't afford to do it next year.

If Sega gets it next year are we supposed to boycott them? Come on man.

You don't have to worry.  You can afford it either way, after all Bush is in and we'll all get a nice Tax check back 

I don't care either way really. I never played any of these football games.  I tore apart a dedicated NFL Blitz and parted it out and turned it into a 9 in 1 anyway. I had to paint over all those stickers on the side to do it    It had a great 25" monitor.

My son plays Jak and Dexter and Halo.  NFL games bore me to tears anyway and 9 out of 10 kids I see at my house pay Mario brothers instead.

Tell you what, gage your support. Start a new poll.

1 - I care if EA is the sole NFL gamemaker
2 - I couldn't care less about EA games or the NFL
3 - I like pie

No 3 would be the No 1

[shmokes]

It's like I'm playing duckhunt and every time I shoot a duck another one pops up.

GGKoul, Madden was released in early August -- on the 9th, I think.  The price drop took place barely a month and a half later.  Are you trying to tell me that EA Drops the price of Madden by $20 every year less than two months after release?  The fact is, Madden is normally a full-price game until AFTER the holidays.  Anybody who isn't afflicted with severe denial can see that the Madden price drop was in direct response to Sega's aggressive pricing on ESPN NFL 2K.  Of course they had to drop their price.  That's what you have to do when a competitor releases an equal, possibly even superior product for half the cost of your product.

Gimme a break.  It's okay, ya know, to at least consider the statements someone else makes as potentially true.  Sometimes, in fact, things are true even when you don't want them to be.  But I don't even get this one.  I mean, there's nothing even inherently disgraceful about lowering your price in response to the price of a competitor's product.  It's actually kinda normal.   

But seriously....don't boycott EA.   You don't have to.  You should, but it's not like consumers can make a difference anyway (just ask fredster).

[Gunstar Hero]

You can't tell me Madden 2000 was better than NFL 2K. In fact, I wouldn't even say that about 2001/2K1. I'd say the first time since maybe 98 Madden fielded a killer game was 2002, and they've just recycled the engine ever since.

When SEGA retooled in 2004 and became ESPN, they had a better game than EA, but gamers buy Madden because it's Madden... it's tradition. So SEGA dropped their price, and then EA noticed.

It's not about better with EA. It's about cheaper. EA knows that if SEGA was allowed to bring out a equal product for haf the price again next year that they would have had to follow suit and drop to match... just like what happened this year. So they THREW cash at the NFL for this exclusive... much more than SEGA coud have afforded. Then to top it off, they snaked the ESPN license. Nice.

[Gunstar Hero]

Word, shmokes.

[shmokes]

Fredster....seriously.  Don't even talk.  You're not allowed to post  until you actually have at least a slight idea of what you are talking about.  First capitalism, now this. 

EA has exclusive rights to all that NFL stuff for 5 years.  Sega/VC can't "get it next year".  EA's exclusive license to ESPN lasts for the next 15 years.  Sega doesn't have more than 2 billion dollars cash on hand.  EA Does.  That's how they are able to do this.  Do you feel like a fraud while you're writing your posts.  Surely you know before-hand whether or not you are even familiar with the issues you're spouting on about.

People ARE willing to pay $50 for a football game.  But Sega made it so people didn't have to.  They could get an equally good football game for $20.  This, in turn, brought the $50 game down to $30.  THAT'S WHAT REPUBLICANS LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT CAPITALISM.  Don't become a democrat to spite me Fredster.  It's not worth it.
 

[GGKoul]

People ARE willing to pay $50 for a football game.

[rchadd]

who cares as long as EA continue improving Fifa football

Coming from UK i dont care about their American Football/Basketball/Ice Hockey games.

what value does having the licence to a league make anyway?

If i was sega i would develop a technically superior products with fictious player/team names. Sonic football anyone?