madden 2005

On Monday December 13th, EA Sports announced that they signed an exclusive 5 year licensing agreement with the NFL and the Players Union. Essentially, what this does is prevent anyone else from creating any football games except for EA. Say good bye to competition.

Some of you might be thinking, "What's the big deal? Madden is the best game out there." I actually prefer ESPN NFL 2K5 but you're entitled to your opinion. But how do you think Madden got so good? EA was forced to keep improving it in response to the improvements that Take Two (publisher of the NFL 2K series) made year after year. You like improvements in your games? Don't expect much in Madden '06. After spending a reported $300M on the licensing rights, why would EA sink more resources into improving a title with no competitor?

Take Two released a statement saying, "We believe that the decisions of the National Football League and Players Inc. to grant an exclusive license for video games do a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans, whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices."

Speaking of higher game prices, Take Two made a brilliant move earlier this year by reducing the NFL 2K5 title to only $19.99. In response, EA had to lower the price on Madden from $50 to $30. Expect Madden to be jacked back up to $50 next year. Gotta pay for the licensing fees somehow right?

Not to be forgotten in all this is the greed exhibited by the NFL and the Players union. I guess they weren't making enough in licensing fees because in the past year, Microsoft, 989 Sports, and Midway dropped out of the football video game business, leaving only EA and ESPN/Take Two. I guess when EA came calling with a truckload of cash, they couldn't resist. "We considered a whole variety of factors in making this decision," said Gene Goldberg, the NFL's vice president of consumer products. "We chose EA based on game quality, marketing ability and track record." (oh, and about $300M in cash.) Please, we realize it's a business, do not insult us.

Look, I'm not naive. I realize that it was a very smart strategic decision on the part of EA Sports. They are guaranteed at least 90\% (if not all) of the football titles sold for the next 5 years. Really, who wants to play a game with Leyton Channing or Tim Grady at QB? But as consumers, we can make them pay for trying to squash competition and taking the choice out of our hands. Let's boycott Madden 2006. Hey, we can all just play Madden 05 or NFL 2K5. Perhaps this petition will have no bearing whatsoever on how many titles they ship next year. But imagine if 10,000 or 100,000 people decide not to buy Madden next year. That's $500,000 or $5M off their revenue number. Not a colossal hit to them but it'll make them take notice.

In conclusion, we will not purchase Madden 2006 when released. We support competition and fair play, not simply purchasing rights and forcing competitors out.