 |
|
|
| |
EA Sports' Moore: Gamers Still Like Tiger
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
|
|
| |
|
January 22, 2010
|
| |
Today, Tiger Woods is known as much for his philandering as he is for his prowess on the golf course, but his extramarital activities have had little effect on sales of Electronic Arts' Tiger Woods PGA Tour, according to EA Sports president Peter Moore.
"We’ve looked actually at the overall franchise for calendar year 2008 and 2009 and are slightly up when we look at all platforms for the Tiger franchise," he told CNBC this week. "Despite what has gone on in his personal life, we’ve seen no negative impact on sales."
While some of Woods' other sponsorship deals have suffered -- Accenture and AT&T dropped him, as Gillette distanced itself from the golfer -- EA Sports has decided to stick with him, repeatedly placing emphasis on his sporting skills.
"We stand by Tiger as an athlete – AP’s greatest athlete of the decade," Moore said. "This guy, since we signed him to be the lead for our golf products, has won 56 PGA Tour events and we still see him obviously as the world’s greatest golfer and continue to stand by him as such."
Moore also confirmed rumors that EA has been polling customers about their opinion of Woods following news of the golfer's affairs. The exec said that the feedback has "validated" the publisher's decision to keep Tiger's name on the box.
Woods' widely-publicized car accident, which led to the exposure of his extramarital affairs, happened as EA was in the middle of developing Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, a free-browser based golf game that is currently in open beta. EA, which has a keen eye on digital distribution models, is hoping that the new online-based game can open up doors for new audiences.
But EA is still planning for the traditional console-based Tiger releases. The publisher just announced this week Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, even as the golfer is on an indefinite hiatus from the sport.
|
| |
|
|
Glad to see EA sticking with Tiger. The man has done a lot for the sport of golf.
But as a pure business perspective, if the customers don't care then EA is okay.
I'm not a sports game player, so this won't affect my spending. I already don't buy EA games...oh wait Ea publishes Mass Effect ;)
The Tiger Woods golf game franchise is popular because it's fun, has great gameplay, and is an overall engaging (if advantageous and sped up) simulation of golf. EA should keep the name just for title recognition alone, as I would know that any future installments would be a developed iteration of its predecessor.
If they changed the name, I would be expecting a whole different gaming experience; it would tarnish my perception of the game as I would keep making references to how it feels like a clone of Tiger Woods with a few extra features. By keeping the name, I already know what to expect.
That's just my opinion, though. When they make the next version of the game, the numbers will tell the whole story. Maybe gamers will care, and give Woods a piece of their mind by refusing to purchase (ha, after the Modern Warfare 2 'boycott,' we sure saw how well gamers do THAT). Maybe gamers will be apathetic to his personal life, and just want to partake in the gaming experience.
Or who knows?
Maybe a sweep of morbid fascination will win over the gaming populace, and the controversy would bolster sales amidst a demographic of sophomoric heartless sadists (our much-beloved gaming public) who have an insatiable desire to make Jamie Grubbs his caddy. This could go one of many ways, and I'm very curious to see how it all pans out.
Brendan Behan