Why are there no American Football PC games any more?
- Thread starter Oyeve
- Start date
Short answer, blame EA, they have the only rights to the NFL, they make enough just selling for consoles, don't see a market in PCs. and nobody else can make an NFL game, and if it is not NFL it does not sell.
Homerboy
Lifer
- Mar 1, 2000
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As much as I hate EA, you can't BLAME them. The NFL put the rights up for sale, so blame the NFL. In the end SOMEBODY was going to get exclusive rights.
that is why I said short answer, bottom line is, as long as they have exclusive rights there will not be another NFL game on PCs for a long time.
mmntech
Lifer
- Sep 20, 2007
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Not just the NFL. EA hasn't made an NCAA Football game for PC in some time either. Of course they recently lost the rights to that franchise due to a dispute over playing players. EA wants to keep players happy in order to maintain lucrative rights to their likenesses, but the NCAA said no. So it's being duked out in court.
EA Sports pretty much has ended PC development though. Due to differences in demographics, I don't think American sports games sell all that well on PC. Which is why we usually end up truly half-arsed console ports. FIFA is the only franchise that still gets halfway respectable PC treatment.
EA Sports pretty much has ended PC development though. Due to differences in demographics, I don't think American sports games sell all that well on PC. Which is why we usually end up truly half-arsed console ports. FIFA is the only franchise that still gets halfway respectable PC treatment.
The market for PC sports games is terrible because your average "sport" gamer is not your typical PC gamer. That is in essence, why you rarely see games on PC.
I agree that it's on the NFL. Imo they're the ones with the leverage. The NFL is worth far more than EA and EA needs the Madden series more than the NFL does - if the league had said "we're licensing the rights to multiple devs" I think EA would pushback but ultimately have to just accept it.
There isn't much market for American Football games on PC. That's not the NFL or EA's fault. If there was a market, EA would sell to it.
American Football generally doesn't lend itself well to video games. Compare to sports like soccer, tennis, or golf. Video games from those sports exist regardless of licensing. Strip the NFL licenses away from Madden, and I would argue that you're left with a pretty mediocre game.
IMO, the NFL's control over its trademarks and the NFLPA's control over player likenesses isn't all that different from every other game developer's control over their trademarks. I mean, Nintendo is notoriously stingy with their Pokemon IP, but I don't fault them for not licensing it more third parties. It's their property, they can do whatever the hell they want with it.
American Football generally doesn't lend itself well to video games. Compare to sports like soccer, tennis, or golf. Video games from those sports exist regardless of licensing. Strip the NFL licenses away from Madden, and I would argue that you're left with a pretty mediocre game.
IMO, the NFL's control over its trademarks and the NFLPA's control over player likenesses isn't all that different from every other game developer's control over their trademarks. I mean, Nintendo is notoriously stingy with their Pokemon IP, but I don't fault them for not licensing it more third parties. It's their property, they can do whatever the hell they want with it.
gorcorps
aka Brandon
- Jul 18, 2004
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EA released a Blitz game in 2012, and from what I heard it was actually pretty solid. It was just a downloadable game though so I don't think it got a lot of attention.
Sabrewings
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sweenish
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I vaguely recall this. They toned down the violence and took away late hits, didn't they? I'll still look into it more.
I'm not so sure. I know it would be a smaller market, but not nonexistent. I think the last one was in.... '08? I remember playing it for awhile, and there was enough interest for some to take the time to write programs to use with the game. There was one to simulate most of the off season stuff, including the draft, skipping the in game stuff, which wasn't very good. It would re-rate players if you wanted, so you wouldn't end up with a league full of 99 rated players at every position (yeah madden, at least of that time, got ridiculous as you played several seasons into the career mode, if that's what it was called).
The games never played that well imho, so while I miss its absence on pc I'm not too upset.
They gave it away for free on PS3 for Playstation Plus members, so if you blindly grabbed all the free titles for Playstation Plus, it might be sitting in your library. They did take away the after the whistle stuff, but the tackles are about the same level of ludicrousness, IIRC.
The proliferation of large screen televisions heavily favors consoles for sports games. You can have a similar controller and screen setup for PCs, but it's not as common, and game developers like EA focus on the mass market.
Another issue why EA wouldn't want to sell Madden for the PC is that it would be much easier to update the rosters, which let's be honest here, is the real reason why most people keep buying the game every year.
The answer, madden is neither a new ip nore is it trying to increase its user base. It has a user base, and it is not the hard core gamer who tricks out their PC. Maddens demographic are people who generally don't game in other genres.
This results in madden's yearly refresh being technically weak compared to true sequels, refining current game modes, maybe introducing a new one, and rarely introducing and new visual tech. The latter is for good reason, madden and EAs other sports games are still being released on last gen consoles. They are strictly targeting the sports gamer demographic which has a console, new or old, and will often be playing offline multi player.
Unfortunately it works, with the 4 console releases (This year they are pushing an IAP system to boot, even selling a second version of a game for 8 total releases that has an IAP bonus built in) and little R&D for updates, it is a cash cow.
Soccer on the other hand, PCs get a higher priority over consoles in poorer countries, especially with the prevalence of internet cafes being used for gaming, so there is still a large overseas demographic for that.
EA's NBA, I haven't looked up the newest one yet but last I recall the engine was usually a year behind and/or the game was based off the ps3/360 version.
This results in madden's yearly refresh being technically weak compared to true sequels, refining current game modes, maybe introducing a new one, and rarely introducing and new visual tech. The latter is for good reason, madden and EAs other sports games are still being released on last gen consoles. They are strictly targeting the sports gamer demographic which has a console, new or old, and will often be playing offline multi player.
Unfortunately it works, with the 4 console releases (This year they are pushing an IAP system to boot, even selling a second version of a game for 8 total releases that has an IAP bonus built in) and little R&D for updates, it is a cash cow.
Soccer on the other hand, PCs get a higher priority over consoles in poorer countries, especially with the prevalence of internet cafes being used for gaming, so there is still a large overseas demographic for that.
EA's NBA, I haven't looked up the newest one yet but last I recall the engine was usually a year behind and/or the game was based off the ps3/360 version.
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mmntech
Lifer
- Sep 20, 2007
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To really put the longevity of sports games into perspective, the last game to come out on PS2 was Pro Evolution Soccer... last year. It was sold in the North American market. So somebody must by buying them to justify the expense of stamping and shipping those games.
Speaking of soccer, I think it's China and Brazil that are mostly driving FIFA sales on the PC platform. In Brazil, consoles are ridiculously expensive due to tariffs on foreign made goods. In China, consoles sales were illegal up until recently. You could only buy legit ones on the black market for a high price. So PC is a more practical alternative.
Speaking of soccer, I think it's China and Brazil that are mostly driving FIFA sales on the PC platform. In Brazil, consoles are ridiculously expensive due to tariffs on foreign made goods. In China, consoles sales were illegal up until recently. You could only buy legit ones on the black market for a high price. So PC is a more practical alternative.
frozentundra123456
Lifer
- Aug 11, 2008
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Well it is kind of chicken vs egg thing. Maybe there are not many gamers on PC that play sports games because the sports games either do not exist or suck. I personally am older, and fit the demographic of a PC gamer more than a console gamer, but I really would like to play an NFL game. I just wont buy a console to do it. And I do blame EA. They own the rights, they could make a PC version. Pretty much every game that comes to PC now is a console game anyway.
mmntech
Lifer
- Sep 20, 2007
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I like to picture EA's CEO walking around with bags of money, prowling for franchise to destroy. Probably keeps it in his Scrooge McDuck-esque money bin. :biggrin:
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