EA Issues Gridiron Smacktalk in Response to 2K’s All-Pro Football
By Shawn on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 4:04 PM PST In 2K Games, Electronic Arts, Game Companies
EA Sports has had it easy the last few seasons. Madden NFL was the sole quarterback on the field since Electronic Arts and the NFL locked up exclusive licensing deals for the teams, stadiums and rosters of the sports back in 2004. With 2 years left on the deal 2K games decided to take a break and regroup and finally re-enters the stadium with this years All Pro Football title.
During a recent shareholder call to report on the massive number of sequels the publisher plans to crank out this year (including Godfather 2) CEO John Riccitiello commented directly on the re-entry of 2K sports into the market and the direct competition it puts on Madden, a franchise that many say is beginning to lost its innovation. Riccitiello commented on which publishers stood to challenge the might of EA in the market and he mentioned 2kGames and 2KSports particularly.
“When you’ve got a competitor like Take-Two on the sports side, and they launch a football title using some of the industry legends, you want to make sure that ends up being a blip and is not repeatable, because we like to defend our franchises aggressively.”Â
While he issued the call to defend the franchise, one has to wonder if the EA developers will really take a look at All Pro Football’s approach and work to actually innovate their flagship football game after so many years of stagnation.
I’ve been playing 2k8 since the release date and honestly the gameplay and football feel is better than Madden. People complain about the delay for passing, but that’s simply realistic.