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EA Sports Announces Return of PGA Tour
EA Sports today officially announced a new PGA Tour game is on the way however few details were provided beyond that. The most substantial of the limited information is that pros will be playable. That differentiates from now rival PGA Tour 2K which has built into its design that all golfers are equal and only equipment alters performance. That’s why the latest game in that series wouldn’t let you even see the pros play outside of near the greens through highlights let alone have them be controlled by users.
In EA Sports PGA TOUR, golf fans will be able to build their virtual career and experience the sights, sounds, and thrills of the PGA TOUR including THE PLAYERS Championship, FedExCup Playoffs and more unforgettable events. The game will also feature many of the world’s most famous courses, where fans will have the option to play against and as some of the biggest names in professional golf.
The news comes as a surprise given how hard it is to imagine two sim golf titles successfully coexisting under the current market conditions even if they alternate release years. It comes on the heels of 2K Sports snagging exclusive rights to Tiger Woods and having established The Golf Club/PGA Tour 2K as a premier series for golf fans in recent years. EA has been absent since Rory McIlroy released in 2015.
Enthusiasm isn’t exactly off the charts for this announcement. The official EA Sports PGA Tour Twitter account, with over 50K followers, has only managed 67 retweets and 360 likes after nearly 16 hours from when it was originally posted. The official EA Sports account with over 2 million followers comparatively has done even worse.
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Tiger Woods signs on with PGA Tour 2K
An eight year absence from the virtual golf course is about to come to a close as Tiger Woods has signed an exclusive long-term deal with 2K Sports. After an extremely successful 11 years with EA Sports ended in 2013, though disrupted somewhat by off-the-course transgressions and decline in performance in the later stretch run, Tiger will now figure prominently in the future of golf video games with their rival.
Additionally it was announced that developer HB Studios has been acquired by Take Two. Until now 2K Sports has only acted as the publisher of games from the independent studio.
Woods’ partnership with 2K includes rights for his name and likeness to appear exclusively in the PGA TOUR 2K franchise, as well as any other golf games published by 2K during the partnership term.
It’s unclear at this time whether Woods will make an appearance as DLC in PGA Tour 2K21 but more likely he’ll debut in the next title which could come later this year or next year.
This is another big step for PGA Tour 2K, previously known as The Golf Club, in building a recognizable brand. Bringing on the PGA Tour, real-life courses, and actual golfers have helped in that regard in recent years. There’s no bigger splash that could have been made however than landing Tiger Woods.
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Madden NFL 21 added to EA Play and Xbox Game Pass
Madden NFL 21 has been added to the EA Play subscription service on PlayStation and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Xbox and PC. This is the first of the 2020 EA Sports games to be provided in full to subscribers and it includes all versions last-gen and next-gen.
The timing this year was much later than has been the case in the past. The later releases of Madden on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X caused EA to pause the typical rollout prior to the Super Bowl and wait just about a month later to introduce the game to subscribers.
EA Play, previously EA Access, launched on Xbox One in 2014 and finally on PlayStation 4 in 2019. For $30 a year or $5 month-to-month, members get unlimited access to the back library of EA games on the console plus 10 hour trials with every EA game that begin five days before release and 10% savings on all digital purchases whether it be the actual games or microtransactions within them. In late 2020 EA Play rolled into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which is arguably the best value in all of gaming retailing for $15 a month though deals are found often.
Still to come are NHL 21 and FIFA 21 and they’ll likely find their way in sometime in April followed by EA Sports UFC 4 this summer.
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Press Row Podcast: College Football is Back!
EA Sports today announced that college football will be making a return to their portfolio of sports games. So that begs the questions like when will it arrive? What teams? What players? What history? Will there be a Dynasty Mode? Will there be Ultimate Team? Will it be a yearly release? We don’t have any of those answers definitively yet – but we take our best guess at them anyway while outlining expectations going forward.
Check out the podcast through Apple Podcasts for iOS, on Android with the Stitcher app, or with Pocket Casts on iOS, Android, and Windows. The show can now also be found on Spotify! Subscribe and give the podcast five star reviews to help support the show. You can also listen with the streaming player found below.
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EA Sports announces return of college football
A nearly eight year stretch with no licensed college football video games will be coming to an end in the near future. EA Sports today announced college football is making its return. Read more
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MLB The Show 21 to feature cross-platform play between PlayStation and Xbox
While the cover leak over the weekend confirmed what had long been expected – Fernando Tatis Jr. as the cover athlete and debut on Xbox – that has now been made official along with some additional details. MLB The Show 21 will release on April 20 with a price of $70 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and $60 on PS4 and Xbox One.
The big news today is that The Show will be the first major licensed sports franchise to feature cross-platform play. Those on PlayStation will be able to play online with those on Xbox. Until now Rocket League and Super Mega Baseball were the titles to feature that ability.
Also noteworthy is that year-to-year saves will no longer be supported for MLB 21. While this was a feature a small number of people have been utilizing and has been greatly appreciated, it has also to an extent prevented modes from being improved in dramatic fashion. Hopefully in exchange for losing year-to-year saves the likes of Franchise and Road to the Show will make a significant leap forward.
The release date is about a month later than would be typical. There’s still uncertainty around the actual MLB season – when it’ll start, whether it’ll have a universal DH and expanded playoffs and other proposed changes – so that may be with that in mind to make adjustments in the weeks ahead that can then be ready for launch.
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MLB The Show 21 leak confirms cover athlete and Xbox release
Back in late 2019 MLB and Sony announced that the MLB The Show series would be going multi-platform in 2021. While details were scarce then and nothing new has been provided in the over 13 months since, the expectation has been that MLB The Show 21 would be making its debut on Xbox. Only the pandemic threw some uncertainty into the equation.
Now thanks to a leak of the cover athlete, who in absolutely no surprise is Fernando Tatis Jr., it appears those on the Xbox Series X/Series S/One will have only a matter of weeks to wait for that to be realized. Read more
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Details on second big Franchise Mode update for Madden NFL 21
The second of three planned updates to enhance the long-neglected Franchise Mode through Madden NFL 21 is scheduled to go out tomorrow. The first, which released in November, was significant in that it was the start of what was promised to materialize over the coming months but was far from being satisfying to those eager for improvements. This update though offers much more substance in the form of commissioner controls and draft logic improvements.
The final patch is planned for February and will deliver improvements to trade logic and the addition of the tracking of each league’s history. Read more
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