Just when you thought things couldn't get any uglier or more contentious in the head-to-head spat between ESPN/Take Two and EA Sports comes news of the most audacious blow so far: An exclusive licensing agreement between the NFL, Players Inc. (the profit-making arm of the NFL Players Association) and Electronic Arts to develop, publish, and distribute interactive football games. According to the press announcement:

　　These five-year agreements -- which EA negotiated separately -- give EA the exclusive rights to the NFL teams, stadiums and players for use in its football videogames. Both agreements also include exclusive rights for console online features… Both agreements are exclusive for action simulation, arcade-style and manager games on the PC, handheld game devices and consoles -- including console online features.

　　What this means is both straightforward and stunning: Beginning next year, and for the next five years, the only NFL-licensed football game appearing on major consoles, handhelds, and PC will be the Madden NFL series. To say this announcement will have profound effects on NFL videogames is an understatement; this is the kind of move that very well may reshape sports videogames as an industry. Certainly for sports gamers here in America, NFL titles in general--and Madden in particular--are the top-sellers in our genre, and among the top sellers overall. By removing ESPN/Take Two as a viable competitor through these exclusive licensing agreements, EA Sports has, in one fell swoop, effectively eliminated the competition.

　　Earlier in the year, rumors of a huge NFLPA/NFL/EA licensing agreement made the rounds, valued at somewhere around $1 billion. Yet at the time the huge price tag, and the sheer moxie required by EA to undertake such a bold step, left many feeling that the rumor would never amount to much more than that. Yet, here we are, seven months later and the rumors have turned out to be true.

　　This is a bombshell announcement but obviously the dust is a long way from being settled here. The most obvious questions that immediately come to mind after hearing this news are:

　　What's next for ESPN?

　　ESPN has played both sides of the NFL fence when it comes to videogames. The all-sports network has closely tied in its broadcast-presentation style and personalities with Visual Concept's popular football series. At the same time, ESPN has also used the Madden football game in-studio for some of its play-analysis segments. What results is a complex relationship, one that perhaps only lawyers on both sides completely understand. Now that the NFL is off the Take Two bus, however, ESPN's cadre of lawyers are probably scrambling for an out in their current contract. And unless the network can somehow find a way to weasel their way into the next Madden game, the biggest sports broadcasting name in the business may once again find itself on the outside of NFL videogames, looking in.

　　What's next for the Madden series?

　　The road for ESPN into the Madden game may be a fruitless one, however. The press release itself hints at some of the most obvious benefits the Madden series will enjoy during the next five years of NFL exclusivity: Use of NFL Films footage and, more importantly, the newly introduced NFL Network. Madden 2006 will be able to utilize the personalities and broadcast style found in the fledgling sports network to greatly improve the game's traditionally weak presentation values. This is bad news for the good folks at ESPN, who will be desperate to keep their network's name in the videogame space.

　　What's ahead for Take Two/Visual Concepts?

　　Now that the they no longer have a restrictive (yet lucrative) NFL license to deal with, Visual Concepts may be at a crossroads. The company made strides in 2004 in its ongoing battle with the EA--the boldest of which was declaring an all-out price war by pricing all ESPN sports games at $20, beginning with their premier title, ESPN NFL 2K5. In addition, no one can deny the talent found in the VC development staff; as many sports gamers preferred NFL 2K5 to the superior-selling Madden NFL 2005.

　　Perhaps VC will continue their football development cycles unabated, hoping that enough people will remember their efforts in the ESPN and NFL 2K series and will purchase a game based on reputation alone. A return to college football is not out of the question for next year, either--many sports gamers, myself included, would love to see the return of VC's NCAA College Football 2K series. Or they could take their football efforts in a more radical departure, by developing the next generation of Blitz-like football games, or do something crazy with the Canadian Football League license. Arena Football League 2K6 anyone?

　　I don't think I'm overstating when I say this may be the biggest story of the year, sports game-related or otherwise. Throughout this most entertaining year of 2004, we've all followed each new strike, parry, and dodge in the ongoing EA/ESPN tussle with great interest and curious amusement. With this announcement, the tone of this soap opera has just taken a deadly serious turn. Today, EA has spoken loudly with their biggest asset: their wallets. Now it's time for VC to regroup and respond with their greatest asset: their ingenuity.

　　The game, it seems, is no longer a game.