When EA has been unable to beat its competitors with quality, the company has instead tried to gain exclusive rights to make games based on popular sports. This has led to a drain in alternatives and according to a lot of gamers - it has also marked a decline in quality. As no competition exists... why bother making the best games possible?
No sports have been hit harder by this than American football. By gaining the exclusive right to make NFL simulation games back in 2004, all other options disappeared and the Madden NFL games have been met with lower scores on average compared to the biggest titles based on soccer, basketball or ice hockey.
As this contract between EA and NFL was about to run out, a lot of gamers hoped this would be the end of EA-exclusive NFL games (before 2004, there were great alternatives for NFL games from companies like 2K, Microsoft and Sony), but unfortunately, this won't be the case. EA retains the exclusive rights to make NFL simulation titles until 2025 and this could be extended until 2026.
That is basically the whole next generation, which once again only will offer the Madden NFL series as an alternative for sports-sim gamers.
