EA NCAA Video Game Exclusivity To Lapse in 2014
By Kyle Kensing
Competition is necessary for football to thrive, and a principle that holds true on the gridiron will return to virtual formats.
Gamespot.com senior editor Brendan Sinclair reports that a class action antitrust lawsuit against Electronic Arts issued in 2008 forced a settlement that will end the game publisher’s exclusivity contract with the NCAA in 2014. Perhaps headway will be made with the licensing of NFL video games as well, which as one of those gamers who purchased the $20 NFL 2K5, I advocate.
A decade has passed since EA had competition on the collegiate front. SEGA released NCAA Football 2K3 in the fall of 2002. The 2K series languished in relative obscurity, in part because it was a flagship for the short-lived Dreamcast before SEGA refocused as a distributor for other consoles. 2K3 was a decent title, though not on par with its EA competition.
However,critics of the NCAA series cite a lack of significant upgrades, as well as some glitches that make the annual rolling out of a new title feel like a Madden test-run.
Steady competition is likely to force EA to either up its game, or lower its prices. Either would be a win for gamers.
An interesting caveat of this lawsuit is how it may impact the antitrust suit former players like Jim Brown and Sam Keller, with former UCLA hooper Ed O’Bannon at the lead, have against EA.
Take Two Interactive dropped out of the college basketball business after 2007, and EA followed two years later. Still, both companies profited on basketball titles through much of the early 2000s. Like in the world though, football was the virtual college sports cash cow. Athletes see no tangible return due to one of the more ludicrous and transparent rules.
EA, and previously SEGA/Take Two circumvented regulations and adhered to NCAA rules that prohibit using student-athletes in for-profit endeavors by replacing their names with numbers. A gamer can fire up his X-Box and captain Michigan with a speedy quarterback who wears No. 15 and has long hair, but that’s not Denard Robinson?
As video games become more realistic, the NCAA too should get real. The next step on the college football gaming front must be sharing revenue directly with the athletes.