Madden NFL 15 News Post

Colin Kaepernick Will Be the Only Player in Madden NFL 15 with Tattoos

04:26 PM - June 5, 2014 by Steve_OS

Polygon's Samit Sarkar interviewed Seann Graddy, line producer of Madden NFL 15 and asked him why tattoos are making their way back to the Madden series and what was the reason for their disappearance.

Many people figured it was a licensing agreement with EA and the NFL, but that is not the case. According to Seann, it comes down to copyright infringement. The player needs to secure permission from the artist first, which Kaepernick did, before EA can even begin to implement the tattoos into the game.

Quote:


	For now, Kaepernick is the only player who will appear in Madden 15 with his authentic tattoos, because he's the only one who has obtained the permissions from the artists involved. "We want to do this with every player, frankly, and we're hopeful that more players over time actually go out and secure the rights so that we can use their tattoos as well," said Graddy.

If another players wants his tattoos in the game, they need to go through the same process as Kaepernick. Since the game is almost complete, the odds of getting anyone else in the game with authentic tattoos is slim. We'll most likely see more players with tattoos in Madden NFL 16.

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Member Comments

# 1 Chemthethriller @ 06/05/14 04:29 PM

EA is terrified of being sued.

# 2 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 04:31 PM

They might as well leave tattoos out then. That's super lame if only Kaepernick has them. It'll stand out as even more awkward than not having tatts in the game at all. Doesn't make sense to me. Either all or nothing EA.

# 3 SmashMan @ 06/05/14 04:34 PM

If you follow the link in this article to Polygon's Ricky Williams' NFL Street cover article, you find a story about a tattoo artist suing THQ for reproducing a tattoo in UFC 3.

http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/17/36...c-undisputed-3

Only mentioning as a heads-up because this goes along with some of the talk in the other thread.

# 4 djordan @ 06/05/14 04:36 PM

Typical EA... Why half *** it?

Either have every player with tats in the game or not... It's that simple.

I just don't get it.....

# 5 roadman @ 06/05/14 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djordan


	Typical EA... Why half *** it? Either have every player with tats in the game or not... It's that simple. I just don't get it.....

It's not EA, it's the NFLPA that mandated the waiver collection from the tattoo artist.

An artist sued Ricky Williams and the NFL based on the NFL Street game with Ricky on the cover and sued because the artist tattoo was on the front cover.

NFLPA came down after this and said to the players, you need a waiver form from now on to reproduce your tattoos.

Cap went out and got the waiver signed by both of his tattoo artist.

# 6 SageInfinite @ 06/05/14 04:42 PM

Can't say I'm surprised by this, but I'm not putting it all on EA/Tiburon. I'm sure there's more they could've done, but oh well. Like I said in the other thread though, EA knew what they were doing releasing this screenshot first. They wanted this to be a big deal.

# 7 roadman @ 06/05/14 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageInfinite


	Can't say I'm surprised by this, but I'm not putting it all on EA/Tiburon. I'm sure there's more they could've done, but oh well. Like I said in the other thread though, EA knew what they were doing releasing this screenshot first. They wanted this to be a big deal.

The timing was huge with Kap's big signing announcement yesterday.

Here is the whole story.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/5/5782...lin-kaepernick

# 8 Kodii Rockets @ 06/05/14 04:45 PM

That's the FIRST thing I thought when I saw that pic this morning, I wonder how many players will have them. Honestly, I expected more than one...

# 9 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	It's not EA, it's the NFLPA that mandated the waiver collection from the tattoo artist. An artist sued Ricky Williams and the NFL based on the NFL Street game with Ricky on the cover and sued because the artist tattoo was on the front cover. NFLPA came down after this and said to the players, you need a waiver form from now on to reproduce your tattoos. Cap went out and got the waiver signed by both of his tattoo artist.

Yeah but if that's the case, why even bother putting tatts in the game at all if you're EA? If you're not going to be able to get all or at least 75% of the players to have tatts then why only have them for a few players? It'll look extremely awkward if Kap is the only player in the game with tatts.

# 10 roadman @ 06/05/14 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKSportsGamer1984


	Yeah but if that's the case, why even bother putting tatts in the game at all if you're EA? If you're not going to be able to get all or at least 75% of the players to have tatts then why only have them for a few players? It'll look extremely awkward if Kap is the only player in the game with tatts.

Easy answer, marketing, it's caused a ton of discussion, not only here, but all across social media.

The timing was impeccable with Kaps signing yesterday. They took advantage of the signing, the player model and the tatts.

# 11 djordan @ 06/05/14 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	It's not EA, it's the NFLPA that mandated the waiver collection from the tattoo artist. An artist sued Ricky Williams and the NFL based on the NFL Street game with Ricky on the cover and sued because the artist tattoo was on the front cover. NFLPA came down after this and said to the players, you need a waiver form from now on to reproduce your tattoos. Cap went out and got the waiver signed by both of his tattoo artist.

Who's developing the game? EA, correct?

They should say "If we can't have all players in the game with tattoos, let's not do it at all".

This screams TACKY. Knowing EA, they'll put Kapernick's picture on the back of the game and people who buy the game will automatically assume they're favorite player(Desean Jackson, Stevie Johnson, etc...) will have tattoos....Only to find out 1 damn player has a tattoo...

Question, How does the news get to the players that they'll need to contact the person who tattooed them in order for their tat to be in the game? I highly doubt players would go against this.

Makes no sense..

# 12 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Easy answer, marketing, it's caused a ton of discussion, not only here, but all across social media. The timing was impeccable with Kaps signing yesterday. They took advantage of the signing, the player model and the tatts.

Yeah I get the marketing aspect but that still doesn't negate the fact that it's going to look extremely awkward when playing the game & Kap is the only player in the game with tatts. They should just wait til Madden 16 to add them. By then they can at least get a lot more players added. I say they need to get at least 75% of the league done or don't add them at all.

# 13 Joey Sauce @ 06/05/14 04:56 PM

2k does it every year with nba...get a clue EA

# 14 bcruise @ 06/05/14 04:56 PM

I wonder if this is a similar situation to Brett Lawrie's arm sleeve being splashed prominently across an MLB The Show loading screen, yet his arm is bare in the actual game. Maybe the MLBPA has similar rules in place about needing the artist's permission.

Either way, at least both games seem to be raising awareness of it being something they want to do, but can't (without fear of being sued).

# 15 Hooe @ 06/05/14 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djordan


	I highly doubt players would go against this.

The players, perhaps not, but given the state of tattoo copyright law at the moment if I were a tattoo artist I would most likely want compensation for my original work appearing in some other format. Getting the required waiver may not be particularly easy, given that.

# 16 tha_show256 @ 06/05/14 04:57 PM

Guys it's not at all EA here...read the article. He's the only one that went out and got permission from his tatto artist. Everyone else needs to do the same so they can have their tats in. They said they are approaching more guys about dong this. Man, all the hate on EA is horrible. Sometimes, I feel Madden and EA will never please most of you all geesh...

# 17 volstopfan14 @ 06/05/14 04:58 PM

I realize that EA isn't completely at fault here and they may not even be at fault at all, but honestly this just kinda falls right in line with what I've come to expect from Madden.

# 18 Daddy123 @ 06/05/14 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey Sauce


	2k does it every year with nba...get a clue EA

How come EA does it for NBA Live?? I don't understand

# 19 roadman @ 06/05/14 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djordan


	Who's developing the game? EA, correct? They should say "If we can't have all players in the game with tattoos, let's not do it at all". This screams TACKY. Knowing EA, they'll put Kapernick's picture on the back of the game and people who buy the game will automatically assume they're favorite player(Desean Jackson, Stevie Johnson, etc...) will have tattoos....Only to find out 1 damn player has a tattoo... Question, How does the news get to the players that they'll need to contact the person who tattooed them in order for their tat to be in the game? I highly doubt players would go against this. Makes no sense..

DJ, the NLPA, the players union mandated this procedure from a recent lawsuit. Kap got the news, it was probably emailed to all the players if it's mandated. The players union surely stays in contact with the players.

The article said EA is open to more players having the waivers signed off.

# 20 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/05/14 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tha_show256


	Guys it's not at all EA here...read the article. He's the only one that went out and got permission from his tatto artist. Everyone else needs to do the same so they can have their tats in. They said they are approaching more guys about dong this. Man, all the hate on EA is horrible. Sometimes, I feel Madden and EA will never please most of you all geesh...

We get that it's not all EA. The point is if they couldn't get a majority of the players artist permission, then they should just hold off on adding tattoos in the game until they do. That's all. How odd is it going to look if only a handful of players have tatts in the game? They should just wait until Madden 16 to add them.

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