Rory McIlroy PGA Tour Has Startlingly Few Courses and Golfers

Recently, the promotion of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour started to put off vibe similar to how NHL 15 had been handled by EA Sports. Even after having extra time for development the level of content was notably being shielded, and the most prominent of which has been related to the licensing of courses and golfers. Now Operation Sports has learned the extent of both and it’s clear why EA had been hiding it.

There are only 8 licensed courses included in the game. Additionally there’s one that is available only to those that pre-order. There are only 12 real golfers on the roster.

Courses
TPC Sawgrass
TPC Boston
St. Andrews
Whistling Straits
Bay Hill
Royal Troon
Wolf Creek
Chambers Bay
TPC Scottsdale (pre-order bonus)

Roster
Rory McIlroy
Jordan Spieth
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Ian Poulter
Hunter Mahan
Brandt Snedeker
Keegan Bradley
Rickie Fowler
Jonas Blixt
Jason Dufner
Patrick Rodgers
Martin Kaymer

There are also a few fantasy courses and made up characters. But that list is embarrassing. One has to assume they’ll be rolling out new courses and golfers as paid downloadable content. Whether or not they actually “held them back” for DLC will be irrelevant. That will be the perception consumers have, and plenty of damage has been done over the years to the (previously Tiger Woods) franchise related to DLC practices.

So then what does McIlroy offer over the cheaper The Golf Club? A more involved online experience and, I suppose, the “casual-attractions” like fantasy courses and the Night Club Challenge. The game was already a much tougher sell for EA Sports after losing Tiger Woods and The Masters and it’s questionable whether that “casual” crowd, that might buy an arcade golfing game, would ever have interest in one that is trying to appeal to both the sim and arcade seeking consumers but providing limited content to both.