Take Two Snags 7-Year Exclusive MLB License
by Tom Spilman · in General Discussion · 01/24/2005 (3:10 pm) · 6 replies
The exclusive rights buying frenzy has begun:
Take Two Snags 7-Year Exclusive MLB License
Can't imagine it will be long before the NBA and NHL are snapped up... and whatever body controls soccer.
I love this line from the release:
Take Two Snags 7-Year Exclusive MLB License
Can't imagine it will be long before the NBA and NHL are snapped up... and whatever body controls soccer.
I love this line from the release:
Quote:The seven-year arrangement will dramatically limit the number of baseball video game manufacturers and ensure aggressive marketing and promotion of baseball video games, while promoting competition in the marketplace to drive innovation in baseball product development.Priceless!
About the author
Tom is a programmer and co-owner of Sickhead Games, LLC.
#2
01/24/2005 (7:50 pm)
Ugh. FU Take Two. FU EA. What a joke. 
#3
But Take Two has dramatically lowered their status in my eyes. I can't really have sympathy for Take Two anymore. But then again someone would have nabbed MLB either way. If not Take Two then EA, if not EA then Midway, if not Midway then 989. Thanks EA and the NFL for opening the flood gates to all this "exclusive" bullsh*t. You have really proven who you care about and serve and it's not the consumer or the industry. It's a race to snatch license agreements folks!! There's a new gold rush in town!! Their goin' fast so get 'em while their hot!!! Can anyone give me one reason how this is good for the industry?
-Ajari-
01/24/2005 (9:35 pm)
Yeah this is very sad. Now Take Two is almost as bad as EA. I say almost because unlike EA, Take Two still hasn't bought out Renderware, leaving many companies reliant on their middleware apps out in the dark, stiffed their employees out of pay, continue to drop quality from their games with each release, or tried to do hostile takeovers on companies like Ubisoft and others.But Take Two has dramatically lowered their status in my eyes. I can't really have sympathy for Take Two anymore. But then again someone would have nabbed MLB either way. If not Take Two then EA, if not EA then Midway, if not Midway then 989. Thanks EA and the NFL for opening the flood gates to all this "exclusive" bullsh*t. You have really proven who you care about and serve and it's not the consumer or the industry. It's a race to snatch license agreements folks!! There's a new gold rush in town!! Their goin' fast so get 'em while their hot!!! Can anyone give me one reason how this is good for the industry?
-Ajari-
#4
Allow me to be the voice of the revolutionary for a few minutes.
How much is this whole thing going to affect me in the short / mid-term? Somewhere between diddley and squat. I don't play many sports games. I don't work for a company that makes sports games.
What they've done is raised the ante on an overused genre that has been a battleground for titans for years. They've greatly empowered major professional sports franchises now - basically given them carte blanche to take the game publishers to the cleaners. What happens if these deals made by EA and Take 2 DO NOT pay off as they are anticipating?
What happens if *GASP* game-players are actually more of a discerning and intelligent audience than marketers take them for, and people actually STOP playing EA's exclusive NFL series because NFL 2008 is almost completely identical to - or even worse than - NFL 2007? Because of all that money EA *didn't* pay for development because their exclusive license is costing them... what, $5 million per year?
So what if this ends up being the most costly mistake ever in the history of videogame development?
Meanwhile I'm going to quietly do the games I want to do where I can OWN the IP - and if some publishing giant later wants to come and pay me PREMIUM money for an exclusive license that they've so boldly set the precedent for, they can be my guest. (Hey, it could happen! Maybe not as soon as monkeys start flying out of my butt, but it's still within the bounds of possibility...)
If I were a big publisher who's been duking it out against EA and other powerhouses in this genre, then yeah - I'd be really upset right now. But you know --- maybe this whole thing WILL foster innovation and promote competition after all. While the giants are wallowing in their self-dug hole with millions of dollars tied up in their gambles with exclusivity, their competitors very well may be innovating their way into the Next Big Thing, and they'll be BUYING Take-2 and EA in six years.
01/24/2005 (10:24 pm)
Actually, this could be really interesting for the industry.Allow me to be the voice of the revolutionary for a few minutes.
How much is this whole thing going to affect me in the short / mid-term? Somewhere between diddley and squat. I don't play many sports games. I don't work for a company that makes sports games.
What they've done is raised the ante on an overused genre that has been a battleground for titans for years. They've greatly empowered major professional sports franchises now - basically given them carte blanche to take the game publishers to the cleaners. What happens if these deals made by EA and Take 2 DO NOT pay off as they are anticipating?
What happens if *GASP* game-players are actually more of a discerning and intelligent audience than marketers take them for, and people actually STOP playing EA's exclusive NFL series because NFL 2008 is almost completely identical to - or even worse than - NFL 2007? Because of all that money EA *didn't* pay for development because their exclusive license is costing them... what, $5 million per year?
So what if this ends up being the most costly mistake ever in the history of videogame development?
Meanwhile I'm going to quietly do the games I want to do where I can OWN the IP - and if some publishing giant later wants to come and pay me PREMIUM money for an exclusive license that they've so boldly set the precedent for, they can be my guest. (Hey, it could happen! Maybe not as soon as monkeys start flying out of my butt, but it's still within the bounds of possibility...)
If I were a big publisher who's been duking it out against EA and other powerhouses in this genre, then yeah - I'd be really upset right now. But you know --- maybe this whole thing WILL foster innovation and promote competition after all. While the giants are wallowing in their self-dug hole with millions of dollars tied up in their gambles with exclusivity, their competitors very well may be innovating their way into the Next Big Thing, and they'll be BUYING Take-2 and EA in six years.
#5
www.costik.com/weblog/2005_01_01_blogchive.html#110667568911300470
And a fun comic about the subject:
www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2005-01-26&res=l
01/26/2005 (8:01 am)
Nice commentary:www.costik.com/weblog/2005_01_01_blogchive.html#110667568911300470
And a fun comic about the subject:
www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2005-01-26&res=l
#6
Gotta love Penny Arcade!
01/26/2005 (8:43 am)
"Eventually, it's not going to be the kind of thing I can avoid, because I'm going to walk into an Electronic Arts retail location here in a couple years and purchase a white box with the word "Game" on it, and that's going to be the industry." - TychoGotta love Penny Arcade!
Torque 3D Owner Jay Barnson
Ah, well.