EA and ESPN Sign Sports Games Deal

Posted on January 21, 2005

Electronic Arts (EA) has cut another sports gaming deal as reported by USA Today and Gamespot.com. This time EA has signed an exclusive 15-year licensing deal with ESPN. The ESPN deal follows a recent agreement EA cut with the NFL allowing it exclusive rights to use NFL players and teams in sports video games for five years.

The exclusivity deal resulted in some concern from analysts who felt the exclusive nature of the deal could curb innovation in football video games.

Meanwhile, Take-Two might be seeking an exclusive Major League Baseball deal to counter EA's power grab in sports gaming. However, dominating sports gaming is just a small part of Electronic Arts' long-term goals. The BBC reports that EA's ultimate goal is to become the world's biggest entertainment company.

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