After somewhat keeping the MVP Baseball franchise alive over the last two years by going with college teams and players, Electronic Arts has decided not to renew their deal with the NCAA to continue the series, according to a report by the Sports Business Journal.
Originally making the title after they lost the Major League Baseball license to 2K, EA claims the games recieved good critical praise but just didn’t have the sales numbers to move forward.
“This is our focusing on delivering things that can move the needle for us,” said EA Sports President Peter Moore. “It’s trade-offs and prioritization. Nobody is a bigger baseball fan than I am, and we love our friends at the NCAA. But there’s obviously a big difference in interest between MLB and college baseball, whereas in football and basketball, that gap is much narrower.”
Of course, if EA winds up acquiring Take-Two, they will eventually be back in the baseball game along with having the MLB license back. Neither Moore or Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications, made a direct comment relating to that in the report, but Brown did talk about the general situation with Take-Two.
“At best, it’s a 50-50 proposition,” said Jeff Brown, EA vice president for corporate communications. Just 8 percent of Take-Two shareholders had tendered their stock as of mid-April, when EA extended the deadline of its offer. “We think we can give them a good home, and they deserve a good home. But the important thing … is that we simply don’t need Take-Two to be competitive.
EA Sports exits diamond, dropping NCAA Baseball game - [Sports Business Journal]
Tags: baseball, college, ea sports, Industry, mvp, ncaa, take-two