EA’s Riccitielo on “defending franchises aggressively” against Take-Two

In 2005, Electronic Arts made an unprecedented move to acquire exclusive license rights to use NFL teams and players in a football video game, creating an electronic monopoly on America’s most popular professional sports league and leaving competitors out of the stadium to fester.

The Madden franchise reigned unopposed since then but in a gambit of creativity and resourcefulness, rival 2K Sports of Take-Two Interactive surprised everyone by offering All-Pro Football 2K8 which may not have active teams and players in the roster but has the names of the sport’s legends written all over it.

By acquiring rights to greats such as Troy Hudson, O.J. Simpson and Jerry Rice, All-Pro Football 2K8 was able to add that needed star power to make the offering attractive. This prompted EA CEO John Riccitielo to comment on the maneuver.

Riccitielo admits that Take-Two is the kind of competitor that “keeps them awake at night.” He says “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.”

The EA CEO didn’t elaborate on how they plan to derail the 2K threat. Whether it be by more restrictive licensing or direct market competition remains to be seen. Looks like this ballgame just got a little more exciting.

Via Gamasutra

In 2005, Electronic Arts made an unprecedented move to acquire exclusive license rights to use NFL teams and players in a football video game, creating an electronic monopoly on America’s most popular professional sports league and leaving competitors out of the stadium to fester.

The Madden franchise reigned unopposed since then but in a gambit of creativity and resourcefulness, rival 2K Sports of Take-Two Interactive surprised everyone by offering All-Pro Football 2K8 which may not have active teams and players in the roster but has the names of the sport’s legends written all over it.

By acquiring rights to greats such as Troy Hudson, O.J. Simpson and Jerry Rice, All-Pro Football 2K8 was able to add that needed star power to make the offering attractive. This prompted EA CEO John Riccitielo to comment on the maneuver.

Riccitielo admits that Take-Two is the kind of competitor that “keeps them awake at night.” He says “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.”

The EA CEO didn’t elaborate on how they plan to derail the 2K threat. Whether it be by more restrictive licensing or direct market competition remains to be seen. Looks like this ballgame just got a little more exciting.

Via Gamasutra