EA Sports Passes on AFL License Renewal
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According to the Sports Business Journal, EA Sports has decided against renewing the license with the Arena Football League. That leaves the AFL without any gaming company to produce a licensed product on its behalf.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that EA would pass on continuing their partnership with the AFL. They produced two sub-par offerings on the PS2 and Xbox and never showed any indications that they would be making a game for any of the current generation of systems. The Arena games didn’t sell well and the sequel (Road to Glory) had very little effort put into it. The AFL games pretty much mirrored the path taken by the MVP College Baseball games.
With the license now open the opportunity is there for another company to grab it. I’m not sure if it is appealing enough for anyone to jump on right away, though one would imagine that the AFL is looking more for exposure than money out of a deal and it wouldn’t necessarily need to be a huge investment to secure the license. The question is whether the cost of development can justify the sales that an Arena game can produce.
November 17, 2008 at 9:13 am
1st
November 17, 2008 at 9:22 am
This is what 2k should go after to attempt a football comeback.
November 17, 2008 at 9:46 am
I would love 2K to reinvent “next”-gen football wit AFL 2K10. Especially since my Philly Soul won the last championship (btw… Phillies World Champs!!!). I think they could get the exposure through a quality 2K game just based on reputation alone. Look at how APF did with no licensing at all. Arena football is an interesting sport that more people should watch.
November 17, 2008 at 10:27 am
I enjoyed the first AFL on Xbox. The second one on PS2 exclusively had some slowdown when the ball was snapped, and wasn’t much better than the first. I’d certainly play an AFL game on 360.
November 17, 2008 at 11:01 am
Here is 2K’s chance to get back into the Football market.
November 17, 2008 at 11:03 am
This is no surprise, seeing how EA is bleeding money these days. The bigger question in my mind, given Madden’s disappointing (flat or worse) sales numbers and the recent verdict against the NFLPA is whether one or both parties will try to put an early end to the NFL exclusive deal.
November 17, 2008 at 11:34 am
I would love to see a 2k AFL game. It could be more action packed like Blitz, but less focused on being over the top. I think the motion that teams use in the AFL could be fun to strategize with in a video game. Plus hockey-like walls and checks on a smaller field.
November 17, 2008 at 11:40 am
you know that 2k is going to try to go after them
November 17, 2008 at 12:12 pm
@ Paul:
There are some parts of it that is fun but I think some of the rules really are restrictive especially when playing defense. That was part of why the first Arena games weren’t great.
November 17, 2008 at 12:28 pm
EA is just greedy they snatched up this license only to take 2k outta the football game.
November 17, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Review for NCAA Baskteball is up at IGN-7.1, what gets me about this review is that they said it plays better and looks better then MM08, has more things to do then MM08, yet gave it a worse score than MM08. What up with sports games this year getting worse scores than last year but are widely considered better than previous versions?????
November 17, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Jordan right on!! Philadelphia power! i would love to play afl 2k10 with the champion soul because madden is ridiculous to play i actually find myself watching the afl and i think it would play great on next gen and i would deffinately buy this game
November 17, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Team Xbox-8.1
November 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm
2k better take it
November 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Jordan wrote:
Jamin wrote:
yea im a philly fan too. did u guys go to the phillies parade? it was ridiculous where i was at(broad and lombard). and the eagles yesterday. EWWWWW. a tie against the bengals. wtf.
November 17, 2008 at 1:59 pm
ya i was down at the parade too were going to do it again next year and the eagles i cant say anything about them lol all i have to say is sad
November 17, 2008 at 2:00 pm
ferris wrote:
See yall in B-More.
November 17, 2008 at 2:33 pm
hopefully 2k gets the license and will have an afl game out soon because i have been waiting on a arena football game since i saw this years playoffs
November 17, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Ketih wrote:
What the hell are you talking bout this was madden best years sale wise if your gonna hate on the game atleast have your facts right if you think the game good or not dont care, but yeah i would like to see 2k make a afl game.
November 17, 2008 at 2:40 pm
hey this is kinda randome but when is backbreaker coming out? This game looks pretty ok. But 2K really should try getting the AFL License and continue making APF, it was a great game.
November 17, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I don’t care if 2K makes another footall game, not after seeing what they do to their rights to baseball. Just crap. Now The Show was much better. I’m happy I have a PS3.
November 17, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I would love for 2k to get this license so I could use my ORLANDO PREDS!!!! lol. But only if it was as good as ESPN NFL 2K5 which, imo, is the greatest football game ever made.
November 17, 2008 at 11:54 pm
@ Kellin:
LOL Nub.
2k’s always made a good football game there baseball games have always been a lil bad.
November 18, 2008 at 9:21 am
Justin tuck wrote:
@ Justin tuck:
Nub, lol
Please… I guess thats why All Pro Football was soooo good…. Whatever, 2K has always been one step behind Madden. 2K5 did somethings better than Madden like Gang tackle, running and blocking but as an overall product it was not that great. The passing and camera angles sucked… And what was up the with the superlong dive tackles?
November 18, 2008 at 5:06 pm
The first game sold pretty darn well. 300,000+ copies for a game that probrally cost EA all of about $100 to make. The second game made NO improvements at all and still had wrong rosters and incorrect rules. I’m upset there won’t be an AFL game this year but EA never really tried with the franchise anyway
November 19, 2008 at 2:45 am
They should add the AFL teams to Madden 2010, they fit NFL Europa before they should be able to fit them here.
November 19, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Moye2010 wrote:
I enjoyed that game myself, but the greatest football game ever was Tecmo Super Bowl.
November 20, 2008 at 1:13 pm
If they add it to Madden 2010 they should make you able to sign AFL players or sign NFL players to the AFL. And some teams should be linked to certain AFL teams like the Dallas Cowboys –> Dallas Desperados etc.