EA's Riccitielo on "defending franchises aggressively" against Take-Two |
Ó
In 2005, Electronic Arts made an unprecedented move to acquire exclusive license rights to use NFL teams and players in a football video game, creating an electronic monopoly on America's most popular professional sports league and leaving competitors out of the stadium to fester.The Madden franchise reigned unopposed since then but in a gambit of creativity and resourcefulness, rival 2K Sports of Take-Two Interactive surprised everyone by offering All-Pro Football 2K8 which may not have active teams and players in the roster but has the names of the sport's legends written all over it.
By acquiring rights to greats such as Troy Hudson, O.J. Simpson and Jerry Rice, All-Pro Football 2K8 was able to add that needed star power to make the offering attractive. This prompted EA CEO John Riccitielo to comment on the maneuver.
Riccitielo admits that Take-Two is the kind of competitor that "keeps them awake at night." He says "when you've got a competitor like Take-Two on the sports side, and they launch a football title using some of the industry legends, you want to make sure that ends up being a blip and is not repeatable, because we like to defend our franchises aggressively."
The EA CEO didn't elaborate on how they plan to derail the 2K threat. Whether it be by more restrictive licensing or direct market competition remains to be seen. Looks like this ballgame just got a little more exciting.
Via Gamasutra
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
Comments
A monopoly is never good for consumers.
maybe he's going to put a hit out on them...
EA will license this old pro players early so that take-two will not have sufficient NFL players to make a game next year. and i say BOO to EA for monopolizing the genre.
EA, you don't defend aggressively, the fans don't win when you do that. What you do is counter them with better s*** in your games. NOW GO TO BED!
Add New Comment