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Is EA Sports finished with MVP Baseball?


PirateFan13

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I guess the thing that surprises me is that I would have figured MVP05 to be a success for EA. They must have made money on the deal...(does anyone know?)...as most copies of the game would have sold out.

I'm just shocked that 2K either considers that PC isnt a cost effective or profitible platform to convert their baseball games to. I would have figured that this site alone was enough proof that the game would sell on PC. How can you ignore such a large dominant platform given EA's success with MVP05? (sorry I know most of these questions are rhetorical).

Yeah but When MVP 05 came out if felt so outdated because it was quite similiar to MVP 04

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I guess the thing that surprises me is that I would have figured MVP05 to be a success for EA. They must have made money on the deal...(does anyone know?)...as most copies of the game would have sold out.

I'm just shocked that 2K either considers that PC isnt a cost effective or profitible platform to convert their baseball games to. I would have figured that this site alone was enough proof that the game would sell on PC. How can you ignore such a large dominant platform given EA's success with MVP05? (sorry I know most of these questions are rhetorical).

This site has 40,000 members roughly most likely probably under that when you weed out duplicate accounts and such. They'd sell the game for 39.99 so if you do the math that's $1,600,000. It seems like a lot of money but when you factor in the costs of the design staff, testers, marketing and administration not to mention the fees they have to pay for the licensing from MLB and MLBPA that profit isn't that great compared to what they would make from the console users which number in the millions. The extra $ needed to port over to a PC game isn't worth it to them.

It's not just PC baseball that's dead, it's PC gaming. If you look around at the PC game section of any Best Buy or Circuit City or EB Games you'll notice the PC titles have dwindled quite significantly over the past 5 years. I think eventually you will see a merging of PC Gaming and console gaming as Microsoft wants to develop an entertainment center for the home so you can browse the web, watch movies and play games all on the same platform. The XBox 360 is the first step in that direction.

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if either company really cared about their fans, ea should just share the nfl rights and take2 the mlb rights. i honestly think they would both make the same if not more money by sharing the rights, because honestly its a business, all they care about is money.
That is were your wrong. There are a lot lot lot lot more football fans then Baseball fans and NFL 2K series outslod the madden series until the rights were taken away
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This site has 40,000 members roughly most likely probably under that when you weed out duplicate accounts and such. They'd sell the game for 39.99 so if you do the math that's $1,600,000. It seems like a lot of money but when you factor in the costs of the design staff, testers, marketing and administration not to mention the fees they have to pay for the licensing from MLB and MLBPA that profit isn't that great compared to what they would make from the console users which number in the millions. The extra $ needed to port over to a PC game isn't worth it to them.

Well, for starters i suspect there are a lot more than 40,000 people who brought MVP05 worldwide. Second, I would imagine that they would use similar design teams from their other games so its not likely they would pay them twice. I agree that profit is only taken after licensing fees and admin are paid but as a big developer like EA, im sure that it if wasnt profitible they wouldnt have made MVP05 to begin with. Anyway, its a bit of a moot point. I was just surprised that with a large US & Japanese market for baseball it would have been worthwhile holding onto it...but I guess that its different from soccer which has a global market and can generate sales worldwide.

It's not just PC baseball that's dead, it's PC gaming. If you look around at the PC game section of any Best Buy or Circuit City or EB Games you'll notice the PC titles have dwindled quite significantly over the past 5 years. I think eventually you will see a merging of PC Gaming and console gaming as Microsoft wants to develop an entertainment center for the home so you can browse the web, watch movies and play games all on the same platform. The XBox 360 is the first step in that direction.

Yep, I agree, it seems to be heading that way. Who would have thought...when I brought my Atari 2600 (well my parents did) many years ago...I was jealous when the new IBM XT's came out... kinda moving back full circle.

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That is were your wrong. There are a lot lot lot lot more football fans then Baseball fans and NFL 2K series outslod the madden series until the rights were taken away

Well you also have to factor in that I bought ESPN NFL 2k5 (Starring Terell Owens, who is a :binkybaby: ) for $20.

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Well, for starters i suspect there are a lot more than 40,000 people who brought MVP05 worldwide.

But for the PC. And like I said earlier, maybe 100,000 PC copies sold, but only 40,000 of those people know about this site, so that EA making a copy for modders to play with wouldnt work.

And does Take 2 even make PC games? If they dont, then yeah, they would have to pay new people because the people they have now are making games for the PS2/3 and XBOX. If they do, it's still a new game.

I'm quite sure they're not so dumb as to not even look into making the game for PC, but if there wasn't enough profit to outweigh the money it would cost to put it together, I don't blame them for not making it, when they sell the majority of their copies for other platforms anyways.

Besides, I'm pretty pleased with the MVP 06 mod, and most of the animations that came with 2005 are pretty good. Sure Owner Mode sucks, but are the games Take 2 puts out any better?

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But for the PC. And like I said earlier, maybe 100,000 PC copies sold, but only 40,000 of those people know about this site, so that EA making a copy for modders to play with wouldnt work.

Well, I didnt mention the part about EA making a game for just modders (as much as I would like it)...i think they would probably have IP issues.

And does Take 2 even make PC games? If they dont, then yeah, they would have to pay new people because the people they have now are making games for the PS2/3 and XBOX. If they do, it's still a new game.

Yes plenty...according to their corporate sell...

Take-Two's product offerings include titles for the leading hardware platforms - the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox® and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PlayStation® game console, Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo Game Boy Advance, as well as for PCs. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels: Rockstar Games, 2K and 2K Sports and Global Star Software; and distributes products in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two also manufactures and markets video game and electronic peripherals and accessories in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region through its Joytech subsidiary.

I suspect that its just they have decided to target the console market and its doing well for them...so why change. I am surprised that PC games are starting to die (or at least heading that way) given that I thought a little while back the PC game market made more money than the Hollywood movie market.

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The PC is not dying so much as it is changing or moving, if you will. As the gentleman stated earlier Xbox 360 is already showing you a bit of what is to come. Microsoft has already hinted that the next console will play both pc and xbox games and will essentially fill the role of the pc for most.

I have been a lifelong pc gamer and I don't fear this move one bit. I have an Xbox 360 as well and have always wondered why the console couldn't handle both roles. Programmers don't struggle with the various configs and consumers aren't forced into continual upgrades. Like it or not, its coming folks.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just to clear things up, 2K Games only owns the MLB rights to third party console titles.

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony can all develop and sell their own MLB titles for their own consoles. All three could also partner with EA Sports and publish the title, using EA Sports for development, if they really wanted to stick it to 2K Games.

EA Sports could ALSO develop an MLB title, strictly for the PC.

It just so happens that the PC game market isn't nearly as lucrative, especially for sports games. It apparently makes more financial sense for EA to make an NCAA game for only one system, than it makes for them to make a PC MLB game.

I just wish somebody, anybody, MS I guess, would make a game that takes all the great elements of MVP and add some decent trade/free agent logic, Rule 5 drafts, 40 man rosters/Sept callups, and all the other little things missing from MVP05.

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As far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing EA lost the rights to MLB and couldn't make MVP 06 or 07. Considering their lack of improvements (Madden) or maybe even downgrades in other EA Sports titles, I'd rather have an MVP 05 with the current user mods than an EA MVP 2007. In my view, EA has shown in the past that they are capable of producing a game that is very similar or actually inferior to the previous version. Who knows how MVP 2006 or 2007 would have turned out. We know 2005 turned out pretty good, though.

Also keep in mind that if future versions were coming out, alot of the mods currently available for MVP 05, might not even exist for a newer EA version of the game. Since there are no more versions, all the modders are concentrating on making MVP 05 the best it can be. This situation also has other advantages, in that, modders always have the gamers interests at heart since they play the game too and make additions based solely on true improvements to the game. Whereas EA might have added things like "liquid AI", "Tru-swing hitting", "Another HR Derby mini-game" and other cliched gimmicks designed to sell the game, but really don't offer much in terms of improving the game.

All this is really a good testimony to all the hard work and effort the modders have put in to make MVP 2005 the best PC baseball game it can be. Of course, there may come a time when all the mods have been made and no further improvements to MVP 2005 can be made without changing the source code. Until that time, however, I don't consider it a bad thing at all that EA lost their rights to baseball.

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As far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing EA lost the rights to MLB and couldn't make MVP 06 or 07. Considering their lack of improvements (Madden) or maybe even downgrades in other EA Sports titles, I'd rather have an MVP 05 with the current user mods than an EA MVP 2007. In my view, EA has shown in the past that they are capable of producing a game that is very similar or actually inferior to the previous version. Who knows how MVP 2006 or 2007 would have turned out. We know 2005 turned out pretty good, though.

Also keep in mind that if future versions were coming out, alot of the mods currently available for MVP 05, might not even exist for a newer EA version of the game. Since there are no more versions, all the modders are concentrating on making MVP 05 the best it can be. This situation also has other advantages, in that, modders always have the gamers interests at heart since they play the game too and make additions based solely on true improvements to the game. Whereas EA might have added things like "liquid AI", "Tru-swing hitting", "Another HR Derby mini-game" and other cliched gimmicks designed to sell the game, but really don't offer much in terms of improving the game.

All this is really a good testimony to all the hard work and effort the modders have put in to make MVP 2005 the best PC baseball game it can be. Of course, there may come a time when all the mods have been made and no further improvements to MVP 2005 can be made without changing the source code. Until that time, however, I don't consider it a bad thing at all that EA lost their rights to baseball.

If EA hadn't lost the rights, and nobody had exclusive rights, it would've been best for the consumer. EA would still have competition from 2K and Sony, so they'd actually need to keep improving the product. We might have eventually see rule 5 picks, September callups, 40 man rosters, trades with money involved, counter offers on trades, arbitration, market correction with contracts, halfway decent scouting reports on prospects and draft picks, the ability to see potential free agents when deciding to sign your own players, etc. etc. etc.

With no competition, 2K Sports is content to add nothing to the franchise mode, and just pretty up the game.

The modders can do great things w/ MVP05, but none of those things I mentioned can be fixed with mods.

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I honestly think that EA is downplaying how lucrative the PC market is, i know that with in the US and Canada the console market dominates, but it isn't so for other smaller more baseball oriented markets specially in the Caribbean, i am willing to bet that most of their profits for PC baseball don't come from us in the US and Canada, but from the people down in countries like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela who can't really afford to have a PS2 or PS3 for that matter.

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True Med, but in the US they can afford to have a console version even if it is for last generation's console, while in other countries only a hand full of people can really afford to have a console.

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Just to clear things up, 2K Games only owns the MLB rights to third party console titles.

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony can all develop and sell their own MLB titles for their own consoles. All three could also partner with EA Sports and publish the title, using EA Sports for development, if they really wanted to stick it to 2K Games.

EA Sports could ALSO develop an MLB title, strictly for the PC.

It just so happens that the PC game market isn't nearly as lucrative, especially for sports games. It apparently makes more financial sense for EA to make an NCAA game for only one system, than it makes for them to make a PC MLB game.

I just wish somebody, anybody, MS I guess, would make a game that takes all the great elements of MVP and add some decent trade/free agent logic, Rule 5 drafts, 40 man rosters/Sept callups, and all the other little things missing from MVP05.

The ability to hire/fire managers, pitching coaches, and 1b/3b coaches would be an exceptional addition for the next PC MLB game.

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I don't believe EA isn't done with the baseball games for PC. They did start a college series. If 2k still had rights to football games, they would still be making them. But no matter how you look at it exclusive licensing will never help the consumer. It causes lack of choice and in this case an elimination of product (PC Baseball). Big companies do it just to get rid of the competition. If no one else is making football games than no one else can make a better football game than you. Exclusive licensing is very lucrative for these big name companies it eliminates competition. I know this going to sound like some revolutionary but truly if we want these companies to stop buying exclusive licenses than we as consumers have to stop buying exclusively licensed products. I honestly don't see that happening though. In the future we will probably see each 3rd party company with their own sport and maybe some knockoffs.

This idea of having an all in one media center isn't very consumer friendly either and isn't very appealing. Just the idea of being locked in at a certain level until the next generation consoles come out. Then you have to consider that the CPU and GPU is done by bidding. Do you really just want the lowest bidding companies powering your next gen console. Now I know that the consoles they come out very fast, even faster than 95% of PC's. Give PC 6 months and they'll catch up no biggie, but the console is stuck on the same level until they come out with a new console. I for one would rather pay more for the PC than to spend a couple hundred to be limited by a console. Now if they do make it upgradeable which I imagine they will aren't they just reinventing the PC. I have setup a friends PC. It runs their TV, DVDs, Cd's, and games with surround sound. He has a very nice projector connected to his pc and he saved a couple thousand rather than buy a fancy HDTV. Now I know most will interpret this as a person who is scared of new technologies. No, I do embrace technology but wisely. I embrace technologies such PCI express, Multi-cored processors, and multiple GPUs. I don't embrace technologies that will limit the consumers choice.

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My question is WHY has EA sports stopped selling copies of MVP 2005?

The game is going for 100-200 dollars right now and EA doesn't even sell or support it.

Because they can't legally sell any copies anymore because they don't have the MLB rights anymore.

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This idea of having an all in one media center isn't very consumer friendly either and isn't very appealing. Just the idea of being locked in at a certain level until the next generation consoles come out. Then you have to consider that the CPU and GPU is done by bidding. Do you really just want the lowest bidding companies powering your next gen console. Now I know that the consoles they come out very fast, even faster than 95% of PC's. Give PC 6 months and they'll catch up no biggie, but the console is stuck on the same level until they come out with a new console. I for one would rather pay more for the PC than to spend a couple hundred to be limited by a console. Now if they do make it upgradeable which I imagine they will aren't they just reinventing the PC. I have setup a friends PC. It runs their TV, DVDs, Cd's, and games with surround sound. He has a very nice projector connected to his pc and he saved a couple thousand rather than buy a fancy HDTV. Now I know most will interpret this as a person who is scared of new technologies. No, I do embrace technology but wisely. I embrace technologies such PCI express, Multi-cored processors, and multiple GPUs. I don't embrace technologies that will limit the consumers choice.

I think what will eventually wind up happening in 15-20 years is that gaming consoles will begin to fade because PCs will catch up and be able to equal the graphic potential, along with normal computing operations. If this does happen, why buy a console when you can just get a PC that can do all this plus more.

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I think what will eventually wind up happening in 15-20 years is that gaming consoles will begin to fade because PCs will catch up and be able to equal the graphic potential, along with normal computing operations. If this does happen, why buy a console when you can just get a PC that can do all this plus more.

Because PC's don't come with 50 inch High Definiton Plasma Displays.

Playing games on a monitor sucks.

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I think what will eventually wind up happening in 15-20 years is that gaming consoles will begin to fade because PCs will catch up and be able to equal the graphic potential, along with normal computing operations. If this does happen, why buy a console when you can just get a PC that can do all this plus more.

i hope you are right

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