Electronic Arts, ESPN in Deal

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday that it had signed a 15-year licensing deal with sports broadcaster ESPN Inc., giving it the rights to use the network’s brand and to develop games based on ESPN properties.

The deal strikes a further blow against what was EA’s chief competition in the sports market, the line of games from Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. that previously held the ESPN rights and used the ESPN name.

EA said any potential changes to EA’s sports games would be subtle.

“We don’t anticipate changing anything significantly from what we are currently doing,” Larry Probst, chairman and chief executive of Redwood City, Calif.-based EA, said.

EA games will not necessarily be branded with the ESPN name, he said, although they will potentially include ESPN data, graphics and sportscasters .

Executives at Bristol, Conn.-based ESPN said they had a good relationship with Sega and Take-Two but felt the time was right to move on to a larger partner.

EA and ESPN said they would look to many ESPN properties as potential video games, including the X Games extreme athletics competitions, poker and even bass fishing.

Last year, the Sega-Take-Two partnership challenged EA’s dominance in pro football with a $20 game, “ESPN NFL 2K5,” that received reviews just as strong as those for “Madden NFL 2005,” the EA flagship that sold for $50.

Used to years of outselling Sega’s football games by almost a 10-1 ratio, EA was forced to respond when the Sega title gained a 40% market share.

The company slashed the price of “Madden” and locked up an exclusive licensing deal with the National Football League.

At least in the short term, Madden’s name will stay on the game. John Madden is under contract to EA for the current season, and the company said it was in negotiations with him on future versions of the game.