Limited number of courses and golfers having large effect on McIlroy purchase plans

How much does the reliance on licensing, when it comes to real courses and golfers, influence consumer interest in EA Sports’ PGA Tour series? Based on the poll posted last week the lack of both – there are only 12 golfers and 8 courses on disc – could severely harm the potential of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour to do well in the marketplace. 

Out of the over 4K respondents to the poll, nearly half indicated they would have bought the game with a healthier selection of licensed courses and golfers. 48% said they don’t plan to buy, but would have if there were more of them included. That has to be a distressing sign for EA, though it could also mean those people are open to buying the game later should significant content be added.

14% will still be buying on day one despite disappointment related to the meager offering of courses and golfers. 12% plan to buy the game when a price drop comes around. Only 3%, buying the game on day one, said they were fine with the number of courses and golfers.

The series has long been planned as a bi-annual release, and similar to EA Sports UFC in that regard expect post-release content updates to be plentiful. The difference is the company will be limited in what they can do by licensing costs – so paid DLC is likely to be the route in the long-term for the game. EA did not have to pay for the rights to individual fighters they added in UFC, but there are huge costs involved with licensing and building out new courses, and securing the rights to each individual golfer.