EA Losing NCAA Exclusive Rights

Should a proposed settlement to a lawsuit against Electronic Arts be approved, the publisher would no longer be the only one allowed to create games using the NCAA license for at least a five-year period. This will come as welcome news to those hoping to see another developer get a crack at making a college football game, something this settlement would make into a real possibility. At the same time, this doesn't ensure that future iterations of EA Sports' NCAA Football will suddenly be faced with any serious competition.
A lawsuit first filed on June 5, 2008 has morphed into a class action suit that now has a settlement awaiting court approval. EA is accused of violating antitrust laws with its exclusive agreements with the National Football League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and Arena Football League which made it the only company with the right to create games using these respective licenses.This also included the matter of price fixing, as EA allegedly forced a premium upon consumers with the Madden series following its acquisition of the NFL's exclusive rights, a move which came on the heels of competitor ESPN NFL 2K5 being sold for $19.99 (rather than $49.99).
This settlement would have no impact on EA's arrangement with the NFL -- an agreement that was extended last year, possibly as a result of the looming lockout, to run through 2013. It would, however, see those who bought certain EA sports football titles in the United States during the period of January 1, 2005 through June 21, 2012 receive a cash payment (up to a total of $54.32 for 'Sixth Generation Titles,' referring to those for Xbox, PS2, PC, or GameCube, or up to $15.60 for 'Seventh Generation Titles' for 360, PS3, or Wii). More notably, in addition to not seeking out further exclusive trademark licenses with the AFL or Collegiate Licensing Company, EA would not be allowed to go after another exclusive rights arrangement with the NCAA until five years had passed following the expiration of its current deal in 2014.
That would, of course, open the door for a rival company to come out with their own college football game to compete with the NCAA Football series. There are undoubtedly those who would welcome such a thing with open arms, if only to escape from the clutches of EA Sports. Those people would be well-served to manage their expectations, though.
I was among those excited to see 2K Sports attempt to compete with EA and its exclusive NFL rights in 2007 with All-Pro Football 2K8, the first football game from Visual Concepts since 2004's NFL 2K5. 2K5 was and still is regarded as one of, if not the best football sims of all time, so for its developer to be back in the game and working on a football title was great news. When All-Pro came along, it was lacking in some regards -- it played plenty fine,but its AI was weak, it didn't look particularly good, and it had a limited number of game modes. Likewise, Madden NFL 06 for Xbox 360 featured a lack of game modes as EA Tiburon worked to adjust to the realities of high-definition game development.

Given those struggles, and the foundation on which both had to build, it's hard to imagine a developer new to the genre coming in with a game superior to NCAA Football right away. For as much as NCAA Football is, like Madden, derided for failing to innovate enough on an annual basis -- this is a common complaint about NCAA Football 13 -- that doesn't change the fact that NCAA Football 13 is a good game. It would take more than a year or two to truly become competitive with the firmly entrenched EA Sports offering, and with the proposed settlement's ban on an exclusivity arrangement lasting only five years, a prospective publisher may not be interested in the significant, long-term investment needed to build a competitive college football franchise when EA could gobble the NCAA rights back up before the decade is over.
Despite this, I do hope at least one company -- 2K Sports seems like the obvious one, given its history with football games and its continued inability to develop games using the NFL license -- decides to give EA Sports some competition. It would be challenging to compete initially, but if the NCAA license is available there's no reason that success could not eventually be achieved. The license may not be as important as, say, the NFL's is to NFL simulation games, what with the NCAA games lacking real-life player names, but it is still the critical element in being able to compete in the marketplace. And with the impending launch of next-generation hardware, this five-ye
ar period after the NCAA deal lapses might be the perfect opportunity to come in with a new game.
Any reason for EA to feel pressure to innovate would be good news for gamers. As things currently stand, a new game comes out each year for $60 and may or may not bring with it enough new content to justify that cost. With so many players buying the latest release every year regardless of what changes it introduces, the online community for each game dries up before long, leaving those averse to buying the newest iteration just because without much competition beyond what the game's AI and local multiplayer can offer. And with EA having a habit of shutting down the online servers for its older titles, it's all but assured that those looking to enjoy some online college football action have no choice but to buy a new NCAA Football title at least every few years.

While it might not guarantee anything, if NCAA Football were faced with a competitor like what NFL 2K was to Madden in the early 2000s, it would increase the odds of seeing real innovation from EA Tiburon with each and every release.Alternatively, a competitor could choose to compete with the more established NCAA series by being priced lower -- NFL 2K5 is highly regarded in its own right, but it was also sold at launch for the mind-blowingly low price $19.99. If a publisher were to try a similar strategy with a competent college football game, EA would need to either strive to justify the premium price tag of its own games or do what it did at the time and drop the price of its games. Either way, consumers would greatly benefit.by chris perrira