Take-Two Interactive Suggests MLB Exclusivity May End When 2012 Deal Expires

[Steve_OS]

Take-Two Interactive's chairman Strauss Zelnick believes the company could walk away from its third-party MLB exclusivity deal when it expires in 2012, according to Reuters. At this point, he feels like Take-Two is not reaping enough benefits from the current deal.

Quote:

"It's a losing proposition and we don't have any interest in pursuing losing propositions."

While that comment almost makes it seem like it's a foregone conclusion that Take-Two will walk away from the MLB deal in 2012, Zelnick also made it clear he was not opposed to renewing the exclusivity agreement if the terms changed.

Quote:

"He said the company is open to renewing its game licensing agreement with Major League Baseball, but only if the economics change."

The "economics" he is hinting could deal with how the game sells in the coming years or how much cash has to be doled out for the license, but in the grand scheme of things that does not really matter.

In fact, I could have just typed "blah blah blah blah MVP Baseball 2013 could happen blah blah blah blah" and it would have sufficed here, especially for Xbox 360 owners out there who have not been able to get their grubby green hands on The Show during this generation of consoles.

Source - Reuters Summit-Take-Two sees opportunity in digital (Reuters) via (Kotaku)

[Stroehms]

Yes!!!!! <3

[JerseySuave4]

as a PS3 person this means nothing to me as long as MLB the Show keeps getting made

[PVarck31]

Great news. I think the same thing will happen with football. Things at EA aren't exactly going swimmingly.

By 2012 there exclusivity will be a thing of the past.

[SoxFan01605]

Of course the exclusivity deal was a bad idea...they tried to respond to completely losing the most popular American sports brand (NFL) by only partially securing rights (meaning leaving open 1st party competition) to what was maybe the second most popular sport at the time and maybe 3rd now. Plus, they did it when they're game wasn't a heavyweight to begin with. Emotions and business don't mix...lol.

To be fair, I do see his point about the annual releases. It can obviously work (see The Show and 2K's own NBA series), but it's a major burden to a franchise trying to dig out from a hole...and the exclusive license binds them to such a rigid schedule, making it worse.

Fine with me though. Not renewing means a chance for open competition (though I would expect it to take a while for legit titles to filter out). Hopefully they don't give up all together though...the game is still rough, but they seem to finally have some things to build on moving forward IMO...and despite having a personal favorite, I like as many viable options as possible for my favorite sport.

Now we just need Peter Moore to catch such feelings...lol.

[Artman22]

Quote: Originally Posted by 31

Great news. I think the same thing will happen with football. Things at EA aren't exactly going swimmingly. By 2012 there exclusivity will be a thing of the past.

I really hope so.

[paptester]

Even though MLB The Show is one of the greatest games ever. It will be nice to see MVP Baseball back and running again

[Artman22]

I also hope this doesn't motivate EA to try to buy the MLB license. I hope it's no more exclusivity.