Since posting an early-May update on the player likeness lawsuit being faced by the NCAA, CLC, and EA Sports another piece of news has dropped and it relates to an admission by EA on how they’ve created players in the NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball franchises. Read more
A few other noteworthy pieces of news came out of this week’s EA investor call which already provided word on the extension to the FIFA license, the numbers behind the record-breaking FIFA 13 along with the company’s future release schedule, and that UFC won’t release this fiscal year. This information relates to plans for next month’s E3. Â Read more
On Sunday mention was made that women weren’t going to make their way into FIFA 14. Despite a strongly supported petition and females appearing in the NHL franchise along with an expanding presence in Tiger Woods the combination of work that would need to be done and lack of time to do so (and possibly an evaluation of return on that investment) resulted in EA Sports shutting the door on the idea for this year at least. Read more
A tweet from Madden NFL creative director Michael Young to Adam Schefter has made it evident that the ESPN reporter has an as-yet-to-be-explained role in Madden NFL 25. Though he was a part of the in-game Twitter feed heading in to do work for the game suggests he’ll factor in more significantly than that.
@adamschefter Great working with you today. Enjoy a well earned early trip home. #beastmode #madden25
— Michael Young (@MYsportsPhotog) May 8, 2013
The hinting at involvement of a media personality comes exactly one year to the day after the same was done on Twitter with Trey Wingo. That occurred just weeks before the reveal of Connected Careers and his place providing commentary on players during the NFL Draft. The first news on the renamed Connected Franchise is slated for May 20. Schefter has a history working with EA on what could end up being a similar project as he was involved with NFL Head Coach 09 providing insight on prospects during the season and reaction to picks during the draft.
EA Sports has released a significant roster update for NHL 13 to coincide with the first round of the playoffs. The update returns all players injured during the season to active status and has updated the ratings for a number of players. Continue on to check out all those who received adjusted ratings with their current overall and whether they moved up or down. Read more
Two recent server side updates were pushed out for MLB 13: The Show. Two patches have been released to date for the game – and no indication of another being in the pipeline – but server side updates allow for online-related issues to be targeted or minor additions made without having to go through an extensive patching process. The changes made affect Online Leagues, the league website integration, and Diamond Dynasty mode. Read more
One day after discussing the huge success that has been the FIFA franchise EA Sports has announced an extension to the current licensing agreement with FIFA that will stretch all the way though 2022. EA retains exclusive rights to FIFA branded games and that also includes the World Cup – the next entry of which should release late April or May 2014.
In the investor call yesterday EA cited long-term deals in place with partners such as the NFL, FIFA, NBA, and NHL. Of course the NFL exclusive ends after this next release unless something has been struck and not yet made public. An announcement of an extension could come at any time. It would seem unlikely for both parties to enter a lame duck year with so much on the line transitioning to the next generation. Check out this article from March summarizing the current picture of where things stand when it comes to NFL exclusivity.
When EA Sports announced their current lineup for fiscal year 2014 – which runs from April 2013 through March 2014 – they omitted two games that only weeks ago would have been expected present. Tiger Woods is going on hiatus for a year but speculation had UFC coming late 2013 or early 2014. Now EA has confirmed through Joystiq that UFC is simply not planned for release this fiscal year. Read more