OS Roundtable: Could Another Company Succeed with Another NCAA Football Game?

[elgreazy1]

Of course someone else could do it but they can't since EA owns exclusive rights. Gotta love it.

[khaliib]

What's sad is that people can be conditioned to think this is how things will always be.

There is always a changing of guard dealing with products in the market.
Comparing est. sales numbers from the past to look at the poassible success of a Sports game is voided because the Financial Market is totally different from when those numbers where gathered.

Strapped wallets always forces the buyer to look at buying another/similiar product. Brand names go out the window when you don't have the money to purchase that Brand name.

The truth is, if EA's College Football with a NCAA Brand was on the shelf for $60 and another College Football Game (that focused on gameplay/presentation with no NCAA Brand) was next to it for $30, most would buy the cheaper. Your wallet will decide what you will buy, not the Brand Name attached to it.

FYI, there is no such thing as Casual Gamer. When you spend $300 + $60 + Inernet cost for video gaming, you Officially become "Hardcore" because most folk who are not not gamers, see such an investment as foolish.

Another College Football can/would succeed in today's market, especially if gameplay/presentation/customization are there.

I like NCAA because I like college football, not because it has the NCAA brand attached to it. With that, EA's football is far below where it should be by now as the only College Football maker and to compare it to itself (past releases) as a means of determining how good of a product it is, would make me a "knucklehead" consumer.

I'm already foolish for spending such money for video games.
Can't go being a Knucklehead also

"Don't ever be conditioned to believe what seems to be the norm..."

[fistofrage]

Quote: Originally Posted by khaliib

What's sad is that people can be conditioned to think this is how things will always be. There is always a changing of guard dealing with products in the market. Comparing est. sales numbers from the past to look at the poassible success of a Sports game is voided because the Financial Market is totally different from when those numbers where gathered. Strapped wallets always forces the buyer to look at buying another/similiar product. Brand names go out the window when you don't have the money to purchase that Brand name. The truth is, if EA's College Football with a NCAA Brand was on the shelf for $60 and another College Football Game (that focused on gameplay/presentation with no NCAA Brand) was next to it for $30, most would buy the cheaper. Your wallet will decide what you will buy, not the Brand Name attached to it. FYI, there is no such thing as Casual Gamer. When you spend $300 + $60 + Inernet cost for video gaming, you Officially become "Hardcore" because most folk who are not not gamers, see such an investment as foolish. Another College Football can/would succeed in today's market, especially if gameplay/presentation/customization are there. I like NCAA because I like college football, not because it has the NCAA brand attached to it. With that, EA's football is far below where it should be by now as the only College Football maker and to compare it to itself (past releases) as a means of determining how good of a product it is, would make me a "knucklehead" consumer. I'm already foolish for spending such money for video games. Can't go being a Knucklehead also "Don't ever be conditioned to believe what seems to be the norm..."

Believe me, there are casual Video game players. And there are especially casual football video gamers. Take a Modernwarfare player and there are alot of them. They already have the system, internet, etc. Say they get an itch to play a football game and they go out and buy NCAA or Madden. All they are concerned with is that the graphics are good and they can pick it up and play and that they can go online and score easily.

Just look at OS. Pretty much the main place you can find multiple sets of sliders for NCAA. Maybe 5,000 to 10,000 NCAA gamers are "hardcore" that actually analyze every facet of the game. Pretty much everyone else is an online gamer only or feels the game is good enough as is or just plays maybe a total of 50 games or less on it before they turn it in.

The other thing, most would not buy the cheaper even if you could have testomnies saying it was better. 2k sports tried the 19.99 price point and still got destroyed in the football market.

It would take alot of resources and dedicated resource plan over multiple years to steal signifiant market share away from the EA football franchises.

[elgreazy1]

Quote: Originally Posted by fistofrage

Believe me, there are casual Video game players. And there are especially casual football video gamers. Take a Modernwarfare player and there are alot of them. They already have the system, internet, etc. Say they get an itch to play a football game and they go out and buy NCAA or Madden. All they are concerned with is that the graphics are good and they can pick it up and play and that they can go online and score easily. Just look at OS. Pretty much the main place you can find multiple sets of sliders for NCAA. Maybe 5,000 to 10,000 NCAA gamers are "hardcore" that actually analyze every facet of the game. Pretty much everyone else is an online gamer only or feels the game is good enough as is or just plays maybe a total of 50 games or less on it before they turn it in. The other thing, most would not buy the cheaper even if you could have testomnies saying it was better. 2k sports tried the 19.99 price point and still got destroyed in the football market. It would take alot of resources and dedicated resource plan over multiple years to steal signifiant market share away from the EA football franchises.

That's an unfair assessment in a sense that 2K was able to cut very largely into EA's profits and significantly closed the gap on Madden in terms of units sold. While the profits to 2K weren't as strong due to the lower price point, the game was well received - by both critics and the purchasing public - and helped give 2K a stronger foothold in the football gaming genre. Had the NFL not gone the route of exclusive licensing, thus effectively killing the ESPN NFL2K brand, the trend showed that 2K's product would have continually shot up in terms of buyers.