Stepping out of the FIFA Shadows

NBA Jam, now slightly forgotten by the new generation of gamers, was a massive, massive hit back in the 90s. It was an arcade gem that was easy to learn, easy to play, easy to get addicted to. It would make its way into the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, while at the same time catapulted the NBA into new popularity heights nationwide. NBA Jam turned most of these players into household names and the league experienced a nice growth of youngsters that started getting involved with the NBA season. Even teams like the Charlotte Hornets, whom was rarely ever a threat in the playoffs, were extremely popular with kids and teenagers as their logo colors became a fashion statement.

Now I bring up NBA Jam because there is a league that could benefit from such a popularity spike through the power of video games. Major League Soccer has been attempting to inch its way into the territory of the Big Four (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) for the past several years, with its popularity remaining a bit stagnant and still not quite getting the required love of ESPN and Fox Sports. With the superior European leagues suddenly getting a boost because of the World Cup, MLS’ growth amongst soccer enthusiasts has improved but only slightly. But if there’s a way to entice a new generation of fans, the gaming industry can definitely be a starting point:



EA and MLS needs to make an exclusive game together.



Yes, MLS is on the wildly-popular FIFA franchise that has quietly emerged into the new Madden. But it has to sit on the shadows of an entourage of superior leagues with superior teams and superior players. It needs to separate itself from the pack and become its own entity. It needs to develop a brand all on its own. It needs to become an accessible, easy-to-play, arcade-gaming soccer franchise with all the big names from MLS. Not saying this will save the league, but any type of positive exposure would definitely help.

Soccer games believe it or not have always been wildly successful, even if few companies actually bother to make them. From FIFA (100 million sold) to Pro Evolution Soccer (81 million sold)  to the Mario Strikers franchise (4 million sold between two games and minimal marketing---wait, where is the 3DS version!!?!??) soccer does well considering it’s the most popular sport in the world and the one that has the attention of the most countries. Now how many of these countries know a lot about Major League Soccer? I assure you the answer is very, very little. But the NBA also used to suffer from this before the 90s when the Dream Team/NBA Jam tag team made the league an international brand. Now in the global scale, the NBA is bigger than even the NFL.

In order for MLS to grow, it needs to slowly but surely distance itself from Europe and become a more confident brand. This means less connections to the more popular leagues, from television exposure to the game industry. EA would win by becoming the exclusive shareholder of the MLS brand garnishing it the extra sales from a March soccer video game release (Before the MLS season starts) and then later in September with the FIFA annual release.

The sports gaming industry has seen better days, as even Madden has taken a few steps back in its success scale. But I firmly believe that if MLS finds a way to remove itself from the FIFA lineup and become its own gaming franchise we can see plenty of success coming from EA and the league itself. Think about it, there is very little competition in March in terms of video games; coming out with an arcade-like soccer game in the middle of spring break would be perfect to collect a new young crowd.

MLS 15 won't solve all the league's problems, but with some effort it could open the door to new opportunities.

How a New York Yankee Strategy can make the XBox One a Sports Gaming Powerhouse

The XBox One hasn’t quite received the welcome that Microsoft was anticipating. Even after backtracking on its DRM issue that became a PR disaster of epic proportions the gamers have not quite warmed up to it like they have the PS4. While it is closing in on the WiiU it seems to have lost a lot of ground against Sony, just like what happened to the 360 in the last three years of its lifecycle.


It is trailing the PS4 by around 13% market share, and as soon as both systems release in Japan expect that trailing to increase dramatically. After all, the XBox and XBox 360 together has sold only 2 million, which is less than even 1995’s Sega Saturn. There is no hope in Japan for Microsoft, and its grip on Europe is weakening as Sony is owning the European market since its release.



The desperation has gotten so bad, Microsoft sunk to purchasing PS3s off of gamers towards their XBox Ones. It looks quite bad.

So Microsoft as a big company might have to pull a New York Yankee move and throw money at a solution in order to have any sort of a shot at avoiding being silver or bronze in yet another race. The XBox branch has yet to win any market since 2001, which is something the competitors can claim and acknowledge. It is time for a huge, huge move.

Guess what Gaming World: the licensing behind FIFA and the NFL expires in 2014. The NCAA football license still exists. MLB has an open audition for its license after Take-Two bailed out.



Microsoft, this is definitely, and wholeheartedly your shot at gaining some major traction. The sports market is up in the air and can definitely be conquered.



Look at this potential scenario: with EA causing trillions of problems with the Madden franchise (a well-known fact for years now) the NFL might look at other potential suitors. Enter Microsoft with already its nice friendly deal with the NFL involving special exclusive features within the XBox One. Microsoft throws in a heavy amount that EA can’t match and an amount that the NFL could not possibly say “no” to. Now only the XBox One and future installments can publish NFL video games in a legal monopolizing way.

The NFL is the most successful league in the United States, and is accompanied by the most popular sport in the nation. The NCAA license is also out of EA’s hands since EA didn’t want to deal with the current player-student-athlete controversy that is gaining more hostility in recent years. What is to stop Microsoft from getting the ability to make BCS video games and even potentially linking them with the NFL games? That would be more legal monopolizing that could potentially make good money.

With Microsoft owning these licenses, they can pick and choose which lucky company gets to develop the game and make good money for themselves, while Microsoft racks the rest of the profits through their publishing. Imagine with the XBox Live bringing the world of Fantasy Football to the next level. Imagine being able to link these games with ESPN online and really go more in-depth with the gameplay and the actual NFL season.

10 years ago with football gaming at its peak, between NFL 2K5 and Madden 2005 over 11 million copies were sold. And the NFL is far far bigger now than it was back in the early 2000s. Being the only hardware with the NFL license can guarantee you potentially at least 300 million a year if granted they manage to sell 5 million copies a year and consistently maintain its quality. And I assure you Take-Two Interactive, the folks behind the wildly-successful NBA 2K series, would get a phone call the second Microsoft buys the license.

And I have not even gotten to the FIFA license yet. The FIFA license goes out in 2014, even though there is a tougher chance of snatching that from EA since this franchise is actually very successful. Nonetheless, money talks and if Microsoft really wanted to strangle the European market, they would seek after the most popular sport in the world and make it a Microsoft exclusive. Can you imagine FIFA 15 being an XBox One exclusive? And your only other soccer choice being potentially MLS/Random Non-Popular League Soccer for the PS4 and Mario Strikers 3 for the WiiU? That would definitely draw in some new sales for the third Green Machine.

Lastly, we have the MLB license out in the open and The Show for the Playstation systems being your final major option. Although you can’t strangle the license like you can the NFL and FIFA license, this is still an opportunity to transform the XBox One into the ultimate sports gaming machine.

One of the best-selling franchises in all of gaming is Madden (nearly 100 million). One of the best-selling arcade games in history is NBA Jam. Soccer video games have sold over 180 million copies over the years (Surprisingly, the low-key Pro Evolution Soccer has 80 million copies sold). There is a Japan-only baseball franchise by Konami that by itself has sold 20 million copies. Sports are just as popular, inclusive, and accessible as ever, and the sales can definitely follow that type of success. Look at what sports video games have accomplished over the years. Arguably the Dreamcast remained alive as long as it did because of its stellar, stellar sports titles.

Microsoft is lagging a bit behind Sony but 2014 is the year of opportunity now that the sports-based licenses are dropping like flies. Microsoft has the money and the resources needed to make a major move in the sports gaming market. If they want any chance to compete in the non-USA markets just as heavily as in the United States, they need their soccer (England, Europe), they need their baseball (Japan, United States, Central/South American market), and most importantly they need to wring football away from EA (United States, small group in Europe) to become your only option to play NFL game.

The XBox One needs a good niche to draw in a new crowd that is outside the United States. Shooters and Western RPG/Actioners won’t do the trick alone. Sports games however…we might be on to something………