Are Payoffs Bad for the Industry and is Microsoft Paying Off EA Sports Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Are Payoffs Bad for the Industry and is Microsoft Paying Off EA Sports? Posted by XanTium | August 21 21:02 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From loot-ninja.com: [QUOTE] I was watching Sunday Night Football on NBC this past weekend and saw no less than 6 commercials for Madden 08. Each commercial showed users with the official Microsoft Wireless Headset and Xbox 360 controllers jumping up and down playing the next-gen football title. At the end of every commercial there was the Xbox 360 logo and a few seconds showing the price drop for the 360. Now, there would be nothing wrong with this had the game been an Xbox 360 exclusive. But it's Madden, the most widely sold and well known multi-platform video game in the industry. Now why would EA Sports be so inclined to give Microsoft such preferential treatment in these commercials? The answer is simple: money. Microsoft is most likely throwing money at EA to fund their development and boost sales of games for their console. And are the commercials the only things they're paying for? This is only speculation, but the Xbox 360 is the only platform for EA Sports titles to run at 60fps. Is this coincidence or a correlation between the two events? I would personally lean towards correlating the payoffs. EA has blamed the lack of time with PS3 hardware for having Sony's version of the game run at 30fps. I think we can effectively call shenanigans here, as many third party developers have games running at 1080p and 60fps on the PS3 (i.e. Activision with Call of Duty 4). Either EA Sports has a shoddy development team (which can be argued), or there's something else going on here. So what happens with all of these payoffs and buyouts? Ultimately, the gamers are ones who suffer. Look at what happens when a license becomes exclusive (i.e. NFL or MLB)... the development flattens out as there's no competition in that field. And that's just what will happen as payoffs and buyouts continue. Competition will dry up and money will force developers' hands. The old adage of speak with your wallet is really the only way to let these companies know that something need to change. Sadly, I have feeling that just won't work and the payoffs and buyouts will only become more frequent. We'll see what happens over the next few years. [/QUOTE] Full Story: loot-ninja.com

[Termina1]

EA sucks who cares...and madden hasnt been fun since like '97

[proger]

EA sucks who cares...and madden hasnt been fun since like '97

Agreed.

Only when Microsoft does it its bad.

Sony has been paying off publishers since they got into the gaming industry.

I know. Anyone who supports sony has a huge thing against microsoft.


And I just quoted a post after mine.

This post has been edited by proger: Aug 22 2007, 01:51 AM

[TexT]

Only when Microsoft does it its bad.

Sony has been paying off publishers since they got into the gaming industry.

[p-niiice]

I love articles that begin with a completely baseless speculation.

[Foe-hammer]

...many third party developers have games running at 1080p and 60fps on the PS3 (i.e. Activision with Call of Duty 4.

BS on ps3 games running at true 1080p at 60fps. And i would like to see some reliable proof that CoD4 will be true 1080p at 60fps, because that is very hard to believe on either the ps3 or 360.

It just sounds like a disgruntled ps3 fanboy venting his frustrations. Boo hoo, cry me a river.

[flashfreak]

That last parapgraph worries me a bit. The games will start to get flat with no competition. Im worried about Burnout paradise from EA. I've begun to dislike EA, it seems everything they do it just for money. Burnout went a bit downhill with revenge, but i bought it anyway. Im worried about this open world thing in paradise, i have a feeling the game is gonna go downhill just as the need for speeds started doing at underground.

NFS MW could have been awesome, but they were so up themselves they didnt focus on making it good. It still had the rigged races from underground, the graphics were pretty shocking and they just didnt keep their eye on making it a good game, if it was like a modern open world nfs 3, then that would have rocked.

But thats just my thoughts on a completely different matter.

[epsilon72]

BS on ps3 games running at true 1080p at 60fps.

Yeah, that isn't going to happen, unless they use Playstation 2 visuals. 1080p @60fps (for consoles, anyway) won't be here until 8th gen, if at all.

I don't really mind if EA has some special deals with Microsoft...their games are nothing but trash anyways in my opinion.

This post has been edited by epsilon72: Aug 22 2007, 02:43 AM

[0794]

Only when Microsoft does it its bad.

Sony has been paying off publishers since they got into the gaming industry.

amen.

[sunn02]

MS has been getting blamed a lot lately for weird, unconfirmed things. You got Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits blaming MS for paying off Paramount/Dreamworks for going HD DVD exclusive. Then you have Skype blaming a MS update which they say restarted the computers of many of the customers causing their P2P network to crash. Now you have this guy blaming commercials and games of EA on other platforms not being up to par with the 360's version. And last week I hurt my toe and I blamed it on MS.

[Lordscr]

I guess that the guy that wrote the article doesn't know how the industry works.

Everyone that pays royalties to MS to put their games on the 360, not only gets their game on the 360 for there money, but also get advertising consideration. The commercial for Madden 08 wasn't a EA commercial, it was a Microsoft commercial advertising a EA game, that is on MS system.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[Hmerly]

This is what the internet has devolved into. Baseless attacks on things people don't understand at all. Revenue sharing, co-branding/marketing, advances on future sales, etc are all standard practices in the industry and all the publishers do it. I don't understand all the hoopla about some supposed payouts by Microsoft which has no basis aside from conjecture and disinformation provided by Sony.

[belke]

madden sucks on the ps3...the gameplay doesnt feel like a football game should. On the other hand it does..which is why I have no problem with microsoft paying off EA, the only people suffering are ps3 owners which they never should have bought in the first place

[TreFacTor]

has anyone forgotten the number of playstation exclusive titles, and the fact that each console has it's own flagship titles, everytime I hear some thing like this concerning the 360, it makes me angry. The people wrting the articles are biased themselves, and their views become self serving. if a company like ea chooses to favor the 360, then those who don't own a 360 will have to buy the console in order to play the games. it's been that way for years, and won't subside just because everyone sees M$ as a coporate demon. look at what EA did with the nfl liscense, when the only other competitor around had a 5 year hiatus to fine tune their game, they come back with that bs legends game that has last gens graphics and gameplay on a next gen console, in the end it's about money, your money beccoming their money. if you don't like it don't support it. nuff said.

[Eddie_the_Hated]

BS on ps3 games running at true 1080p at 60fps. And i would like to see some reliable proof that CoD4 will be true 1080p at 60fps, because that is very hard to believe on either the ps3 or 360.

Rock solid 60fps? Most certainly. Native 1080p? Not a chance.

EA Sports are lazy group of developers turning out hack work. I could personally care less who supports their mediocre titles. They are shining examples of gameplay scalability. Take the same concept, push the resolution, add a new sports icon or two, and get John Madden's blessing.


"EA Sports Titles - Out the door! Into the store! Start making more!"