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EA spikes Arena Football license

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Nov 18, 2008 4:15 pm PT

Megapublisher confirms that it opts not to renew its licensing deal with the indoor pigskin league, which it will reportedly also not invest in.

Electronic Arts' monopoly on American football has apparently come to an end. Yes, the financially buffeted publisher still has a lock on the NFL for the next four years, and its NCAA exclusivity remains in effect. It has, however, declined to renew its licensing deal to make games based on the Arena Football League.

"EA Sports and the Arena Football League have opted not to extend the exclusivity agreement to develop video games based on the sports license," a rep told GameSpot.

Word of the separation first surfaced in yesterday's edition of The Sports Business Journal, which revealed that EA was negotiating for NFL exclusivity seven months before the agreement was made public in 2004. The respected athletic-industry trade also reports that EA will not exercise an option to invest in the AFL, an option it had under the exclusive game-licensing deal that the two signed in January 2005.

Though it grabbed headlines at the time, the three-year EA/AFL deal wasn't a particularly fruitful union. It yielded only two lukewarmly reviewed games, 2006's Arena Football (PlayStation 2, Xbox) and 2007's Arena Football: Road to Glory (PS2 only). Both games were developed by Florida-based EA Tiburon, maker of the considerably more acclaimed and exponentially more successful Madden NFL games.

50 Comments

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Aug 5, 2009 3:20 pm PT

    Ouch maybe 2k might try it.

  • jsmoke03

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 8:15 pm PT

    if 2k is smart, it shouldn't pick up this liscense...as much as they want to get back into football, this isn't the the liscense people want to buy. 2k sports division isnt making profit, so better hold off on the nfl liscense

  • finaleve

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 7:56 pm PT

    I can see 2k picking up this. It's not only a good way to get back into the football gaming field, but its also a good way to compete against the god awful Madden series. It might not be exact, but Arena football sounds fun.

    I also miss the Blitz series...the actual blitz and not "The league"

  • saintsrowCS

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 5:35 pm PT

    the correct term is kneels on the Arena Football license not spikes you spike the ball to stop the clock to run another play you kneel down to run out the clock and END the game

  • VolcanoMan001

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 2:23 pm PT

    Does this mean that 2K Sports can finally make a football game again, abeit in the Arena Football League? I hope so.

  • enoslives7

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 11:49 am PT

    EA is slowly sinking. They screwed gamers over time and time again, now karma is screwing them. BOYCOTT EA !!!!

  • buzzguy

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 11:27 am PT

    Could this be a precursor to the AFL heading for the trash can? You never know...

  • bizuit

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 11:22 am PT

    I remember when this first came to light and I said on here who is going to buy this and blah blah blah and I got flamed pretty hardcore for it....now where are these people?

  • garey017

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 11:12 am PT

    I have Arena Football for Xbox. I couldn't even tell you if they're real teams in it, I know so little about the AFL. But I do know that whether or not you're into the AFL, arena football can be made into a fun sports video game. I'd love to see more sports games based on more off-beat sports, not just the big 5 (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer). Those games are fun, but really they're almost the same every year.

  • sdkingsht

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 10:44 am PT

    did anyone actually buy arena football games?

  • Bgrngod

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 10:02 am PT

    So how could you be the owners and creators of the Madden game, and then manage to totally screw up an AFL game?

    Ahhh right.. you did it on purpose. AFL got hosed.

  • AzureWind213

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 9:47 am PT

    Ummm... David Carr is staying Eli's backup. Sorry dude. We've all seen what happens when you've got no backup Q, right COWBOYS??

    In AFL news, this is definitely good for anyone wishing against the EA monopoly on the NFL. Someone might come in and make a damn fine AFL game and maybe nose in on the competition in the future...

  • amin915

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 9:22 am PT

    arena football is ok...it entertains me sometimes

  • Leamg2000

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 8:45 am PT

    didnt even know they did an arena football game.

  • grigjd3

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 8:38 am PT

    Also in the news, nobody cares about Arena Football!

  • Jman251

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 8:33 am PT

    Some of you don't make any sense. You don't like the AFL, but yet you want 2K Sports to make the game when you very well know you wouln't buy the game regardless. I understand the frustration that many of you feel because EA has that monoply on the NFL license, which I still to this day don't understand how they got away with that. Hopefully in four years 2K Sports will be able to get it back.

  • zomglolcats

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 7:02 am PT

    Arena Football? Does anybody really watch that anyway? People care about NFL not Arena Football.

  • LilRoss2k3

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 6:56 am PT

    i wan't 2k back...probably more than anybody...but don't be a moron...the AFL liscense would be a waste of money...nobody wants to play that ish.

  • WardCleaver02

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 6:29 am PT

    Oh, no!!!! This can't be!? Wait, what is "Arena Football"?

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