This is the third darkest day in gaming history, after Sega going third-party and the market crash of 1982. I've disliked EA for a long time, but this is a rediculous and uncalled for bitch move on their part. I hearby refuse to purchase any game with EA's name on the box until this deal expires, and I urge all of you to do the same.
"LOS ANGELES, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it has signed an exclusive deal with the National Football League and the league's players, giving EA sole rights to put NFL players, stadiums and teams in its games.
Terms of the five-year deal were not disclosed.
The deal strikes a blow for EA in its ongoing sports battle with Sega Sammy Holdings (6460.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
Sega and Take-Two's "ESPN" line of sports video games, with their strong reviews and discount $20 pricing, ate into EA's market share this year, forcing EA to cut prices on its sports games.
EA's "Madden NFL" football games is one of the company's cornerstones, with more than 42 million copies sold over the last 15 years."
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Rather than compete with the threat from Sega by working harder on their games, EA continues their grand tradition of fucking gamers in the ass by eliminating their competition through financial means rather than through quality software. Even if you don't like football games, even if you're a Madden fanboy, you should be able to realize just how bad this is for the consumer, and the statement it makes about EA as a company.
"I hearby refuse to purchase any game with EA's name on the box until this deal expires, and I urge all of you to do the same."
That was good advice before this news. Outside of Freedom Fighters and the upcoming Timesplitters 3, I have hated pretty much every EA game I've played since the 1980's. But, yeah, this is a particularly gay move on EA's part. It will be interesting to see how Sega continues to embarrass EA's line of shitty sports games without a big license like this.
I've pretty much been boycotting them for quite some time now. Of the 52 games I have for my new consoles (DC, PS2, XBox), only 1 is published by Electronic Arts. A quick run to the local used-game shop tomorrow will purify my collection once and for all.
I'm happy to say I don't have any EA games. They truly are money-grabbing bastards, instead of innovating their existing games, they just release stupid yearly 'updates' and overly expensive and pointless expansion packs.
Burnout 3 wasnt made by EA, they just came in at the end and bought it out and added their exclusive "EA TRAX" 40 music tracks, every single one of them utter shit.
I also suspect EA had something to do with the lack of replay features (rushed out) and hideously long loading times (not present in Burnout 2)
to conclude: EA are highly evil and should be burned to death.
I've never liked any of the FIFA games. They just release a new one every year with the only change is it looks 2% more realistic, and they got another shitload of licenses. I suppose all other EA Sports games (NFL and stuff) are exactly the same.
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