by Nick - 01.24.05
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Looks like Take-Two might be the only rival to EA in the sports arena soon. Not only did Sega sell its sports division to Take-Two, but rumors are also suggesting that Take-Two has purchased the rights to the MLB license for the next seven years. It looks like this is going to be a future pillar of gaming; companies buying up properties for exclusive content. I think its a terrible idea and will eventually stagnate the market. Can you even fathom it? Seven to fifteen years playing the same companies sports game? Are they going to even have to update the games very much?
Well, at least one good trend may have already started: bargain priced sports games. That I can live with. Although, its probably part of the reason for all of this.
It was confirmed on GameSpot yesterday that Take Two has the exclusive rights to the MLBPA license, but interestingly only among third-party developers. That means the first-parties like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo can still use the license (not that this matters since Sony’s the only one making MLB games now of the three), but EA Sports can forget about it for the next few years.
Either way, while I do find this cute that Take Two is getting “revenge” on EA for them getting the NFL and ESPN deals, it saddens me that this is the direction that the sports gaming market seems to be going in. If that’s the case, then I hope people are ready for some dark times.
vocalizer6364 - 01.25.05 8:56 am
Correction: the MLB license is also in their hands. Not just MLBPA.
vocalizer6364 - 01.25.05 8:59 am
Maybe this is Nintendo’s chance to get back into sports games. Thats something that I think they really need to focus on, for the mainstream comsumer. They had Griffey and Kobe. Make more, even if its only mascot sports games.
Nick Luckett - 01.25.05 9:34 am
Well, at least there’s Mario Baseball.
Joseph Valencia - 01.25.05 11:46 am