December 13, 2004

Electronic Arts Signs Exclusive with NFL and Players

EA announced an exclusive 5 year deal with the National Football League and Players Inc. to develop, publish, and distribute interactive football games. The company negotiated each deal separately to get the rights for NFL teams, stadiums, and players. Moreover EA gets the rights to use all the trademarks for online console gameplay. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Both agreements are exclusive for action simulation, arcade-style and manager games on the PC, handheld game devices and consoles -- including console online features. The agreements do not include exclusive rights to other types of games or games accessible from the Internet or wireless devices, including cellular phones.

This is the ultimate strike back blow to Take-Two and EPSN franchises. As the ESPN line took major share vs. Madden this year due to great reviews and the $19.99 price point.

Update: Take-Two responds, "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."

Update 2: Although financial terms were not disclosed. Gamespot published a rumor on 5/18/04 that speculated an Electronic Arts exclusive deal with the NFL Players Association.