Video Games

[skullman80]

RC Pro-Am, Tetris, Wheel of Fortune and the fist TMNT NES game are the games I tie most closely to playing in my grandparents woodpaneled basement on their tiny little tv that only had ANT hookup. Had the slider box thing in the back that I had to switch between Game and TV....to get the NES to work. Fun times.

[count2infinity]

Started Red Dead Redemption 2 last night. Only got through a bit of the intro, but I like the story set-up so far.

[CBear3]

[skullman80]

I remember having to go to the operation sports forums back in the day to grab rosters with names on them. I know those folks spent tons of time making them, and it made the game so much more fun having real names. Looks like this will make it easier and the players get some $$$ out of it too.

[nocera]

$600 + a copy of the game is hilariously insulting.

[genoscoif]

Started Red Dead Redemption 2 last night. Only got through a bit of the intro, but I like the story set-up so far.

Buckle up. IIRC, it starts a bit slow, but once it picks up the story takes off and holds up throughout the entire game. But the real fun is all of the other stuff to do. Still one of the few games I'll still load a previous save and go in and enjoy the world. Hunt, fish, just ride around on your horse. It's immersive to the point of relaxing, if that makes sense.

[skullman80]

My assumption is they assume cause NIL money is now coming in players won't care as much...and if you are some 3rd stringer that just wants you name in the game you'll take the $600 and copy of the game and be happy? I could be wrong, and it does seem like a trivial amount now that I think about it....but I'm assuming that might be EA's thought process.

[dodint]

Yeah. I imagine if you play for Rutgers this is really exciting for you.

[nocera]

Signing away your name and likeness for $600 and a copy of a video game with no mention of royalties is nutty.

[skullman80]

Signing away your name and likeness for $600 and a copy of a video game with no mention of royalties is nutty.

They didn't have to sign up for student loans to get screwed the rest of their lives... so the least they can do is sign their likeness away for $600 haha. (I'm kidding)

[CBear3]

Roster Management/Create a Player makes it moot, and a lot of gamers will have run through this group of athletes within the first week in dynasty modes. There will be larger NIL deals for players that are involved with promotion, so I expect that will get your Carson Beck's, Jalon Daniel's, and Jalen Milroe's etc bigger pay days. I don't expect the Sanders boys to be in it, based on their perceived worth.

[dodint]

The Sanders whole thing is being a brand so I assume they'll ensure their presence in the game.

[dodint]

Did I just notice that it's called EA Sports College Football instead of NCAA now?

[nocera]

Or it'll be like Jordan in the old NBA Live games. There is a Chicago player wearing #23, but he's some generic dude named "PLAYER" who just happens to have really good stats.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I also saw where if a football player opts out of the NIL, users cannot create that player in game. I have no idea how they'd enforce that, but they were specific about that.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ealignment

[MR25]

Did I just notice that it's called EA Sports College Football instead of NCAA now?

Never got NCAA sponsorship or whatever, like how it was "NHLPA 93"

[dodint]

As a video game collector I'd rather it be called NCAA for sentimental reasons. But I'm hoping the name change is a commentary on how limp dicked and useless the NCAA is. A way of hammering home their irrelevance.

[nocera]

I also saw where if a football player opts out of the NIL, users cannot create that player in game. I have no idea how they'd enforce that, but they were specific about that.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ealignment

I'm guessing you'll get an error if you try to enter their name in create a player. Maybe you'll get $@nd3r$ instead.

[genoscoif]

$600 + a copy of the game is hilariously insulting.

I mean, that's certainly one way to look at it. Another way is EA is on the hook for almost $7MM if 11,000 players opt in, before ever selling a copy of the game. Bigger name players will get their NIL $$ elsewhere, so this is more of a 'everyone gets something' deal.

Royalties is kinda funny. Let's say they sell 10 million copies at $70, which would be bonkers. That's $700MM in sales. What's a fair royalty to put into a pot? 1%? That leaves $7MM to divide among 11,000 estimated opt ins. That's......$636 dollars a person.

[Morkle]

I never understood why the original EA game just didn't do licenses with the schools, and just straight up completely randomized the players but the team overall ratings or star ratings.

Operation Sports folks do so much for those games post launch anyways, it never really had to die. Like they could have paid one cover athlete, or just used a school of the year or last years national champion's mascot.

[Rylan]

$600 + a copy of the game is hilariously insulting.

I mean, that's certainly one way to look at it. Another way is EA is on the hook for almost $7MM if 11,000 players opt in, before ever selling a copy of the game. Bigger name players will get their NIL $$ elsewhere, so this is more of a 'everyone gets something' deal.

Royalties is kinda funny. Let's say they sell 10 million copies at $70, which would be bonkers. That's $700MM in sales. What's a fair royalty to put into a pot? 1%? That leaves $7MM to divide among 11,000 estimated opt ins. That's......$636 dollars a person.

Yea, I dont get what more you want here? Like your name isnt worth that much when you are one of 11,000.

[nocera]

Eh. I've done a lot of licensing for video and my company is peanuts compared to EA. I would be absolutely thrilled if I could contract ANYBODY for a flat $600 fee and a free video game. We give an initial fee, plus a percentage of sales, plus another fee should it move to different medium/project (ie I use a portion of their video interview as VO in another video or podcast), and it's not in perpetuity. These deals need to be renewed as long as the product continues to be sold. Normally it's a 3 year agreement. This is EA. They are worth literal billions. They're about to make bank off of this game and NUT and season passes and DLC etc. I think they can do better than $600, and throwing in a free game is funny as hell.

[MR25]

No CFB players union to negotiate that, and the money pool they have is close to what they pay the NHLPA for player rights on a per year basis (44.2MM over 6 years = $7.4MM per year).

[Rylan]

But are you doing 11,000 at once without care for actually relevancy? So again, as one of 11,000 your name isnt worth as much as it is when its 1 of 1.

Example, i am not going to associate a random 5th stringer with College Football 25 exclusively. Therefore his individual value in this endeavor is not high. I am also not going to associate Caleb Williams because while his name power is worth more as an individual, its worth less in a collective.

Further examples:

Barry Bonds famously did not agree for his likeness to be used in MVP Baseball series in 04 and 05 (may be more, but alas those i can recall). His overall value was at its highest as an individual in those years, but his brand was not needed for the series to sell, therefore is not worth as much to the series to pay for.

Ken Griffey when he was the namesake for a baseball game though, was selling his brand to sell the game, thus worth more.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

$600 is more than what some players should be getting, yes. Like if I’m a backup lineman for some MAAAAAAAC school, I’m ecstatic at that offer

but Arch Manning’s likeness alone is worth…a hell of a lot more than that. So that’s where it gets tricky


And sorry but I have absolutely zero sympathy for EA because of how shitty they are as a company. They can get f*cked