Let the exclusive battles begin

Dubya · Post by **Dubya** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:07 am

IGN wrote:It's not exactly news that Take Two is swinging back in the sports exclusive battle suddenly erupting in the past few months: last week we let you know about a sweet deal with the Major League Baseball Player's Association. Today, however, Take Two announced the agreement officially.

For seven years, Take Two Interactive has exclusive third-party rights to video games using the MLB brand. Unlike Electronic Arts' recent and controversial deal with the NFL, Take Two is leaving some room for competition: first-party developers (i.e., Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo) can still use the MLB goods. The contract officially begins in 2006.

"The baseball video game business has been underdeveloped for years," said John Olshan, the MLBPA's Category Director for Interactive Games. "The upcoming change in technology makes this the perfect time for us to implement our plan for growing the business, and we have no doubt that Take2's proven creativity and innovation, combined with their incredible distribution strength and powerful commitment to baseball, will add real excitement and depth to the video game marketplace. Baseball fans will be the big winners."

Take Two, of course, has of late been a publishing partner (along with SEGA) for Visual Concepts' ESPN sports titles. Electronic Arts recently announced it also nabbed the rights to the ESPN brand as another exclusive.

The geography of sports gaming is changing, and we'll be right here with more developments as they occur.

AIDS · Post by **AIDS** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 3:43 am

This is ridiculous. I'm glad I'm a sports game fan. I mean, honestly, EA and Take Two nabbing up sports licences doesn't really effect me, but I still think it's stupid.

Jack Burton · Post by **Jack Burton** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:37 am

Can't Take Two and EA switch licenses? As much as I hate to say it, I'd much rather play a VC-developed football game than a VC-developed Baseball game.

-Jack

Atticus · Post by **Atticus** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:54 pm

I prefer baseball myself.

Wrath · Post by **Wrath** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:44 pm

This is getting quite ridiculous. I'm not a big sports gamer, so this doesn't have a huge effect on me, but still. The only traditional sports games I occasionally play are football games, and with Madden being the only one, I'll stick to my ESPN NFL 2K5. I can't stand the Madden games.

I'm interested to see how this all turns out in the next couple of years. If either or both companies make a craptastic game, and no one buys next year's game, I wonder how bad it will backfire. Both companies have a lot of other games to keep them going, so it won't ruin them, but it might still be interesting. After all, in 2 years, I'm predicting EA must have at least 5 expansions for the Sims 2 that you know will sell...