The Huddle is a periodic series where the editors at GameSpot and SportsGamer get together to discuss a hot topic in the world of sports gaming. This time around, it's the news of EA Sports dropping the Arena Football League license.
Does the AFL have a place in gaming?
Brian Ekberg, GameSpot: The recent news that EA Sports has dropped the Arena Football license doesn't come as a surprise. Devoting development resources away from NCAA Football and Madden and towards a low-profile product in these uncertain economic times seems like a risky plan at best (I just wish that same smart business acumen would have led to the cancellation of NFL Tour). That said, even though the AFL is a second-tier sports license at best, I still think a viable videogame could come out of it. It's a fast-paced sport that's played in a real life how most Madden cheesers play online, with egregious scoring and a complete lack of defense. How is that nobody has managed to really capture the feel of the touchdown fest that is the AFL?
Though the chances are slim, if anyone is going to pick up the AFL license, it may as well be Midway. Their latest football offering, Blitz: The League II, didn't exactly light up the sales charts but they do have some football development experience. Of course they'd have to tone down the neck-braking and nad-snapping; the AFL is a family-friendly league after all. But, on the heels of Blitz II's lukewarm reception and after seemingly dropping the NBA Ballers series, if Midway is looking to build some legitimacy back into its sports lineup, maybe the AFL is a decent first step.
Jon Miller, GameSpot: Say what you want about the AFL, but many people forget that EA Tiburon did create a viable AFL videogame. It was fun, fast-paced and captured the wall-rattling action of the AFL with aplomb… and it didn't sell. The only AFL players I can name are former college football B-listers like Joe Germaine, and, as sports fans, we need to play with our favorite players. Just like Tecmo Bowl isn't the same without Bo Jackson or Barry Sanders, the AFL fails to reach out to fans that want to see the best football players on the planet. With that in mind, it's no surprise EA dropped the license. As much as the developers would like to deny it, it's really the star players and your favorite teams that sell sports games. Put it this way. Even though NBA 2K9 is the better hoops game, would you buy it over NBA Live 09 if 2K didn't have real NBA players? Not a chance. What's interesting is that the AFL does have real players, but no one knows who they are.
Now there are sports that would translate into great videogames – Slamball for one, the unholy spawn of trampolines and basketball – but without any star power, they just aren't going to sell copies. The short answer is no, the AFL license does not matter. It pains me to say it because the AFL puts out a good product for its relatively meager fan base, but another AFL game just doesn't make sense, at least not until high-profile college players begin to choose the AFL over the NFL, and that's never going to happen.
Aaron Thomas, GameSpot: If a company drops a license, but they haven't made a game with that license in a couple of years and nobody cares about that license, does it make a sound? No.
Fred Villarruel, SportsGamer: This doesn't really come as a surprise. I'm pretty sure sales weren't enough to justify even making this game. Plus they never tried to make it on Xbox 360 and PS3. It probably wasn't worth it. It's like they didn't put in all that much effort into making it. This game goes the way of NCAA Baseball.
Brian brings up a good point about Midway picking up the title and making it their own. I think because of the nature of the sport it could fit in nicely with their football engine. Not sure if this will happen when you consider how hard up Midway is for money now. Although I'd imagine the AFL license wouldn't be all that expensive. All in all I don't think this sport is popular enough to the point where people would buy a video game based on it.
Shanker Srinivasan, SportsGamer: The AFL license has little to no value. While viewership figures indicate the sport is becoming more popular, these figures are likely to plateau because the AFL competes for the same audience as the NFL. Similarly, any developer making an AFL-licensed football game is competing for a sports gaming audience who already play Madden or NCAA Football. In fact, I would be surprised if many sports gamers even know the rules of the game.
If Midway (or any other game developer for that matter) wants to compete with the Madden franchise, the game must play exactly like the NFL. Even without the NFL license, there is nothing stopping these developers from designing a football game with 32 teams spread across 8 divisions. While actual player and team names couldn't be used, providing a simple editor and tools to share files online will ensure that the community handles the renaming duties. The NFL license is not difficult to circumvent nowadays. Hopefully one of these game developers figure this out.
Kyle Cooper, SportsGamer: Did I just read that there's an Arena Football League game out there? Seriously though, there's just no way that anyone is going to be able to make a successful football game without using the real NFL players. I guess Blitz is doing okay, but if the economy continues to tighten everyone's wallet people are only going to buy one football game: Madden. I'm sure we all remember the quick one year rise and fall of NFL All Pro Football from 2K not too long ago. The bottom line is it's just not worth it for companies to make a product that is a step or two below the competition right out of the gate. I'm actually excited about this announcement because that hopefully means that EA will be moving some of their old AFL resources over to improving NCAA and Madden. I like watching Arena Football time to time when the NFL season is over and nothing else is on TV. However, when Madden's always available in my pile of games, then why would I ever want the watered down version of football?
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What's your take? Do you think an AFL-licensed game is doomed from the outset? Are you looking for the return of Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed? Let us know in the comments.
