[video games] NBA not taking the MLB,NFL Exclusive route

Dave2000 · Mar 21, 2005

http://sports.ign.com/articles/597/597743p1.html

March 21, 2005 - When EA and the NFL closed their exclusive licensing deal, what transpired next was a whirlwind of rumors, negotiations, and partnerships. EA signed the AFL and ESPN while Take-Two hooked up with Major League Baseball, but the big deal everyone has been talking about is the NBA.

Then just today, even more rumors started to spread when word from the NBA league office that Sal LaRocca, Senior Vice President of NBA Global Merchandising Group, and Greg Lassen, Senior Director of NBA Electronic and Interactive Licensing, will be holding a conference call with the media tomorrow afternoon to make an announcement detailing the future of the NBA video game business.

So what's the call all about? It looks like the NBA is not looking to go the exclusive route, at least not in the same way the NFL and MLB signed their deals. Sources tell me that the NBA is instead giving out exclusives to certain games for certain years. In terms of the street genre, the NBA is now mandating that EA's NBA Street series and Midway's NBA Ballers series alternate years. So in 2005, we get NBA Streeet V3. In 2006, we get NBA Ballers 2. In 2007, we'll see NBA Street V4…

As far as the announcement about the sims goes, fans of NBA Live and 2K5 can both take a deep breath and relax. Both series will continue to compete with each other on a yearly basis, making for the only real video game sports battle still in existence, with the NFL and MLB on lock, and the NHL on lockout.

That means that this year you will see NBA Live 2006, NBA 2K6, and a new game from 989 Sports tentatively titled right now, NBA 2006.

Check back to IGN Sports tomorrow as we find out even more details from the media call with NBA execs.

In the mean time, celebrate the fact that at least one league believes in the value of competition.
Click to expand...

Thank god. I love the 2K series but still like Live at the same time. As for the Street/arcade exclusive deal, thats basically whats going on now. Street Vol. 2 came out in 2003, Ballers 2004, Street V.3 this year, etc... The other Arcade wannabe games, NBA Jam, just sucks, so its win win for all of us.

RC Cola · Mar 21, 2005

Saw this earlier today. Sounds good, if true. More proof that the NBA is the best pro sport.

Dave2000 · Mar 21, 2005

wow, i guess it just maybe talk, but check this site

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/gossip/nba-signs-game-deal-036717.php

The NBA will be holding a conference call Tuesday to make a major announcement about “the future of NBA video games business,” a source told me.

Sal LaRocca, Senior Vice President, NBA Global Merchandising Group and Greg Lassen, Senior Director, NBA Electronic & Interactive Licensing, will both be on the call.

No word on who the deal was signed with, but Take-Two keeps coming up in conversations with the people in the know. It does sound like it will likely be an exclusive deal.

I’ll post all of the details about 9 a.m. EST Tuesday when official word comes out and follow that up with notes from the conference call a few hours later.
Click to expand...

Then again, IGN was the first to report about the MLB and NFL deals, so I put my reliable sources with IGN.

RC Cola · Mar 21, 2005

The 1st article I saw about this news came from here:
http://www.gamercentric.com/index.php?page=viewnews&id=3418

That article doesn't really get into exactly what the deal is though. I would tend to lean with IGN as well, although their PS3 talks last week shows me that most of the IGN guys are idiots who can't get their stories straight (well, maybe just the video game guys anyways).

I like the Take-Two games better anyways, so I couldn't (almost put could) care less if the IGN article is correct or the other one. I guess the whole exclusivity thing would still be going on though, which does suck.

RC Cola · Mar 22, 2005

An article from the WSJ seems to back up what IGN said:

NBA Grants Videogame Rights To 5 Publishers for $400 Million

Multiple-Year License Deals For EA, Sony and Others Mark a Doubling in Value
By NICK WINGFIELD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 22, 2005; Page B4

In the latest sign of soaring stakes in the sports-videogame business, the National Basketball Association has granted five publishers rights to create NBA basketball videogames, a series of deals collectively valued at about $400 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The NBA signed licensing deals with Electronic Arts Inc., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Sony Corp., Midway Games Inc. and Atari Inc., all of which previously have published NBA-themed videogames.

The value of the five- to six-year deals, which includes both licensing fees paid by game publishers to the league and players and commitments to market the titles, is roughly double the total value of the last round of basketball licensing deals from several years ago, according to people familiar with the matter. The new deals apply to videogames that will be released toward the end of this year, at the start of the 2005-06 NBA season.

The basketball deals follow similar agreements involving other major North American team sports. In December EA signed an exclusive agreement with the National Football League and the football players union, valued at more than $400 million, according to people familiar with the deal. Take-Two earlier this year struck a partially exclusive deal, valued at around $300 million, with Major League Baseball and its players union.

Sports is one of the videogame industry's most important categories, representing about $1.18 billion in U.S. sales last year, or about a fifth of the $6.2 billion in total console-game sales in the U.S. during that period, according to researcher NPD Group Inc.

Sports games traditionally have been one of the most dependable sources of revenue in the industry, because the most popular titles come out at the start of the sport seasons every year, more frequently than most other titles. EA, the largest publisher of game software, dominates the sports category with more than 60% of the U.S. market. "The benefit sports provides over lots of other genres is the consistent economics and revenue year after year," says Jeff Karp, group vice president of EA Sports.

Yet last year a price battle in the sports-videogame category, mainly between EA and Take-Two, helped curb revenue growth in the category.

The NBA has taken a different approach from other sports leagues by keeping its relationships with videogame publishers nonexclusive. EA's deal with football has caused controversy among fans and other game publishers who have said it could hurt the quality of future football videogames by driving publishers out of the category.

"We felt this was the best way to expand the basketball category," says Adam Silver, president and chief operating officer of NBA Entertainment. "We focused, in particular, on the innovation we felt we would be driving by having multiple competitors in the marketplace."

Licensing deals with sports leagues and athletes are essential ingredients for popular products. Actual player names and likenesses, team jerseys and stadiums all help add to the realism of sports titles, and publishers need permission to include them in their videogames.
Click to expand...

Sorry, this was posted on another board w/o a link, and I can't get one from WSJ.

There's also another article that backs up IGN's story:
http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuo...tfh50051_2005-03-22_07-00-55_n18614866_newsml

Dave2000 · Mar 22, 2005

hmm, i wonder what game Atari will make....

EDIT: Nevermind, they make the Backyard Basketball series...

Forums

[video games] NBA not taking the MLB,NFL Exclusive route

Dave2000 Contributing Member

RC Cola Contributing Member

Dave2000 Contributing Member

RC Cola Contributing Member

RC Cola Contributing Member

Dave2000 Contributing Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!