Madden NFL 15 News Post

EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

11:32 AM - June 13, 2014 by RaychelSnr

While there has some some question as to the status of the exclusivity of the Madden license, owing to the fact the last mention of the license by EA only said there were a number of years left on it with no mention of exclusivity. That was never a guarantee that the license wasn't exclusive, as EA hadn't mentioned in official documents that the license was either extended or exclusive since the initial deal -- the news of the prior extension was never fully confirmed by EA.

Expecting a different approach where EA held a pomp and circumstance parade has led to a rash of unfounded rumors that another competitor, namely 2K, was developing a football game. There was even an unfounded expectation that 2K might even debut a football title at E3.

However, the biggest news to come out of the 2K camp at E3 might have been Ronnie2K confirming that not only was 2K not working on a football game, but that the license was still exclusively owned by 'someone else.'

This isn't surprising, considering the NFL license being open for other partners would have almost certainly leaked by now by someone. The current deal's term length which has been widely speculated and rumored is that Madden still has two to three years in its current deal, pushing the game well into this new generation.

It still remains unlikely, even if the license was open, that a competitor could rise up to compete with Madden in any reasonable amount of time given the more advanced needs of today's sports gaming audience. Thus, given the license's current status, it is possible that any possible competitor wouldn't be ready for release for at least 18-24 months after the license was actually acquired by someone, which puts the most reasonable timeframe for a Madden competitor at least four to five years from now, if ever. The most likely scenario remains that EA and Madden will remain the only major NFL gaming option on big box consoles for the foreseeable future.

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Member Comments

# 341 23 @ 07/06/14 06:39 PM

The sales on NBA live were down the entire generation because they kept starting over and not enough people bought that junk. They developed the bad reputation they have. They didn't get it from 2k...make no mistake EA screwed EA. They lost their own loyal fans in the process.

People like good games regardless of company. So Many People Loved live 10. Ot introduced stuff 2k didnt have like the authentic play calling system the pick and roll mechanic among other thinga but they decided it wasn't enough for them and put the hockey guy on the project and bam.

They didn't listen to their fans and lost all of them. Not just because of competition but years of incompetence.

# 342 bkrich83 @ 07/06/14 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	This was in madden 09. Imo, the glitch does make the game fundamentally broken. It's just as bad as the infamous half court Jesus vid. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=b3mLy78Jw8w No quality alternative like Elite had made all the difference here.

That video didn't take me anywhere.

I get my versions mixed up, I thought 09 was a bad game, and had a ton of weird bugs, but broken? As in broken enough to not ship? That I don't remember.

What was the video of?

# 343 bkrich83 @ 07/06/14 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	The sales on NBA live were down the entire generation because they kept starting over and not enough people bought that junk. They developed the bad reputation they have. They didn't get it from 2k...make no mistake EA screwed EA. They lost their own loyal fans in the process. People like good games regardless of company. So Many People Loved live 10. Ot introduced stuff 2k didnt have like the authentic play calling system the pick and roll mechanic among other thinga but they decided it wasn't enough for them and put the hockey guy on the project and bam. They didn't listen to their fans and lost all of them. Not just because of competition but years of incompetence.

Was Live 10 the one that introduced the DNA stuff, and the mode where you could play any game on the schedule with the players DNA from that day?

I loved that version, then they seemed to abandon all the things that made that version of Live appealing and I simply never went back. I can't imagine a time i the near future where I even think of buying an EA NBA game.

# 344 Blzer @ 07/06/14 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	That video didn't take me anywhere.

# 345 bcruise @ 07/06/14 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer

To me, an abusable bug is not the same or worse in severity as an unavoidable one (the bynum thing). A bug like that certainly breaks multiplayer play completely (unless between two friends who agree to not use it), but for single player it's a choice of whether to break the game with it or not. I don't recall there being a choice on Elite's bugs.

# 346 23 @ 07/06/14 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	Was Live 10 the one that introduced the DNA stuff, and the mode where you could play any game on the schedule with the players DNA from that day? I loved that version, then they seemed to abandon all the things that made that version of Live appealing and I simply never went back. I can't imagine a time i the near future where I even think of buying an EA NBA game.

Technically DNA was introduced in Live 2009 but yeah the play any game from that day and try to determine the outcome yourself started with Live 10.. IMO it was much better than NBA Today that 2k has.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	I don't necessarily disagree with this line of thought but the key part you failed to mention is that those NBA game fans had a direct video game alternative. In this exclusive market fans can be disgruntled with EA all they want, it doesn't change the fact that they have no other direct NFL video game choice.

There was Sony's basketball game, 2k, Live, Inside Drive, etc...

EA screwed that series for years on end. Multiple 3 year plans that got cancelled every year, player movement was never right, and the best game they made was Live 10 when Mike Wang came over from 2k, until he left because they handed the control to a hockey guy.

Microsoft abandoned their Inside Drive series after 2004
Sony abandoned their series after 2009 (bad game, bad sales for the time, but people loved their Inside the Life [think my player] mode) and so 2k adapted that starting with the combine as a digital DL with Derrick Rose back in 2k10.

EA made the move to put the hockey guy on when they couldn't get consistent sales, and while Live 10 was their highest rated and best of the series they didn't like the sales numbers.

I saw and played elite before everyone, before the demo and all along with a a couple of other OSers at Venice Beach, and I while I knew people would bash it because they hid so much, I didnt realize it would be that bad.

That was until that demo came out and it was full of bugs (which I never saw in the final version I played but it was still a very bad game)

Since they couldnt appreciate Live 10s sales they were about to lose money in just releasing that Elite and decided to cancel and got rid of the team.

Bottom line though is that again, until people stop buying this game... it'll be a yearly tradition to bash them and complain but keep playing it and doing it all over again.

Im not advocating this, its just a point that I see the passion football fans have and see you guys are screaming for fixes and if not that an alternative, but im saying its probably going to take a radical rejection from the community to make it happen at this rate.

# 347 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ODogg


	Because it's a fun game. Could be much better with competition but I still enjoy it a lot, especially on the PS4

Fun, much like beauty, is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I personally can only enjoy Madden on single player seasons/franchise, and that's for a limited time, with a strong imagination, and forgoing of the laws of physics. With the movement such as it is, I can't imagine playing online. I'd be surprised if the games online boil down to real football mechanics, and that's just not fun to me.

# 348 bkrich83 @ 07/06/14 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer

Yes now I remember that one. Ughh. That was unexcusable. Bug? Absolutely. Game breaking enough to halt release? Absolutely not.

09 was a terrible game in a long line of terrible Madden releases but it wasn't "broken".

# 349 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	Sales have been flat. Madden 13 was hyped by pointing to 1.6 million in first week sales, but that was actually down from 1.9 for Madden 11. http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Madden_NFL Madden 25 sales were down to 1 million in the first week. 600,000 less than 13. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...ts-first-week/ You can point to declining ps2 sales, the transition to new systems last year, etc. It may have contributed but sales are clearly down. I've also pointed out nba 2k actually outsold madden on the new systems. Having a basketball game outsell a football game on any console is telling in my opinion.

How is the game selling year over year? I put together this chart on Madden sales several years ago. At that time, EASports was claiming sales were down because of the recession.

# 350 bkrich83 @ 07/06/14 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	IMO it was much better than NBA Today that 2k has. .

It really was. When NBA today first hit, I was expecting it to be much like the Live version. Disappointing implementation of that game mode, in what I believe to be an otherwise outstanding game.

# 351 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	In fact, most game critics think that Madden is actually a good game. Not the best sports game on the market, but good and competent. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a game that is merely good.

I was about to say this is wrong, but you are right CMHooe. I tend to read reviews from GiantBomb and GameSpot who constantly pan the game. However, a quick read of Metacritic shows it gets roughly an 80 overall year after year, which is the review equivalent of a good game. Now, if you look at the user scores they are WAY below that (usually 5 to 6). So there's definitely a disconnect between users and critics.

# 352 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Based on my limited experience with Madden 2006 which I did not buy on the XBOX 360 - it was a subpar game on account of poor commentary and presentation, 30 frame-per-second refresh rate, lack of depth in game mechanics, blocky-looking players, average gameplay, and lack of depth in gameplay modes, but it was not fundamentally broken and non-functional.

I'm not sure what you mean by refresh rate, but Madden NEVER had a 30 fps rendering rate on any title released last generation (XBox360 / PS3). It's why the game looked so choppy. Last I heard was average rate was 21 fps with an occasional 24 fps burst, depending on the situation.

# 353 bkrich83 @ 07/06/14 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	I'm not sure what you mean by refresh rate, but Madden NEVER had a 30 fps rendering rate on any title released last generation (XBox360 / PS3). It's why the game looked so choppy. Last I heard was average rate was 21 fps with an occasional 24 fps burst, depending on the situation.

Seems about right to me. It's not choppy to me but inconsistent, if that makes sense.

Source on that data?

# 354 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkrich83


	Seems about right to me. It's not choppy to me but inconsistent, if that makes sense. Source on that data?

Rather not say as I don't have their permission to share. It was someone on the Tiburon team though in 2011 time frame.

It's why it's misleading when they say the game plays at 60 FPS. It does 'play' that fast, meaning decisions in the game are made in that time frame, but updates / rendering of the graphics only occur roughly 21 FPS due to the design method they chose. That's why everyone thinks the animations look so choppy / robotic. Hoping rendering issue was fixed in the the move to next generation (XBoxOne / PS4).

# 355 CM Hooe @ 07/06/14 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	So there's definitely a disconnect between users and critics.

Some of that is just The Internet doing its hate train thing though.

There's also a two-point or greater difference in review score and reader score with Titanfall (multi platform), Dark Souls 2 (PC), Fez (PS4), Threes (PS4), Minecraft (PS3), FIFA 14 (PC), NBA 2K14 (multiplatform), and so on.

Generally speaking, the video game community on the internet can be very toxic; if they get peeved at any little one thing, the pitchforks come out. It's alarming to an extent.

Not attempting to be but so dismissive here, though, I'm plenty willing to admit Madden has its warts it needs to iron out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	I'm not sure what you mean by refresh rate, but Madden NEVER had a 30 fps rendering rate on any title released last generation (XBox360 / PS3). It's why the game looked so choppy. Last I heard was average rate was 21 fps with an occasional 24 fps burst, depending on the situation.

I'm plenty willing to be wrong here but my impression was that Madden 06 launched at (all during core gameplay) 30 frames per second, then 07 was 60 FPS on 360 and 30 on PS3, and then 08 got them both up to 60.

To be specific I'm referring to the rendering rate, apologies on confusion.

# 356 CM Hooe @ 07/06/14 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valdarez


	Rather not say as I don't have their permission to share. It was someone on the Tiburon team though in 2011 time frame. It's why it's misleading when they say the game plays at 60 FPS. It does 'play' that fast, meaning decisions in the game are made in that time frame, but updates / rendering of the graphics only occur roughly 21 FPS due to the design method they chose. That's why everyone thinks the animations look so choppy / robotic. Hoping rendering issue was fixed in the the move to next generation (XBoxOne / PS4).

This is interesting to me, though part of me is at least a bit curious about that number about this because my gut tells me that the internet would crucify any console game which didn't render at at least 30 FPS, and we never really heard that about Madden.

I also feel like I'd be able to tell if the game wasn't rendering at at least 30 FPS and immediately notice, given that my eyes are good enough to spot the difference between 30 and 60.

Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, if you have sources you have sources and I'll take your word for it; it's just a bit puzzling to my intuition, that's all.

# 357 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	This is interesting to me, though part of me is at least a bit curious about that number about this because my gut tells me that the internet would crucify any console game which didn't render at at least 30 FPS, and we never really heard that about Madden. I also feel like I'd be able to tell if the game wasn't rendering at at least 30 FPS and immediately notice, given that my eyes are good enough to spot the difference between 30 and 60. Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, if you have sources you have sources and I'll take your word for it; it's just a bit puzzling to my intuition, that's all.

Nope, you'd think, but their marketing push of 60FPS gaming bowled folks over. It's why the game looks so choppy. If EA games is what you primarily play, then you might not notice it as much, but coming from a 2K game to Madden on last generation was extremely jarring. If you ever want to test it, run a play and watch it play out, and then go into a replay and play it out in slow motion. It's remarkably smooth in slow motion, yet choppy as can be when played in real time. That's due to missing frames. Our mind tries to fill in those frames, but our mind can only do so much.

We had several discussion on the board about it back then, and EA's reps at the time wouldn't touch the topic on any level. Definitely a hot potato.

I imagine after the move to next generation is complete in two to three years, EA will be more willing to divulge issues like this more openly (as they hype / prop up something new).

# 358 Valdarez @ 07/06/14 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamuraiX


	I think the thing is alot of the reviewers from these gaming sites don't really know anything about football or at least not enough to make the in depth critiques that alot of people do for Madden. As long as it has some semblance of football they're gonna say it's good.

Good point. Hard-core sports gamers, and those looking for a simulation experience are going to be far harder on the game than the average reviewer. That's regardless of sport or game.

# 359 JaymeeAwesome @ 07/06/14 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamuraiX


	I think the thing is alot of the reviewers from these gaming sites don't really know anything about football or at least not enough to make the in depth critiques that alot of people do for Madden. As long as it has some semblance of football they're gonna say it's good.

I would think that gaming sites would review the game just as that...a game. They are looking for graphics, playability, replay factor, and overall fun as a game. Sports gamers review the game as how much real to life it is. What you don't hear is the average joe gamer....I would expect them to follow the critics. Good news for EA is that most of their fan base is your average joe gamer.

# 360 CM Hooe @ 07/06/14 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamuraiX


	I think the thing is alot of the reviewers from these gaming sites don't really know anything about football or at least not enough to make the in depth critiques that alot of people do for Madden. As long as it has some semblance of football they're gonna say it's good.

No, the game isn't being given a pass for having "a semblance of football".

The game is being reviewed as good because it has a variety of gameplay modes, presents interesting challenges to users, has interesting and balanced gameplay mechanics, and has a lot of depth and nearly infinite replay value.

These things transcend whatever genre of game you want to put Madden in. That's what mainstream video game review sites are looking for - is Madden an entertaining video game and worthy of purchase compared to all other options?

Hardcore fans of the genre will evaluate the game through a much more focused lens, yes, but that doesn't invalidate the opinion of the average video gamer or the mainstream video game reviewer, who may be introducing the game to a person who has never played it before.

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