Earlier this year, Sega made it very hard for EA to go about business as usual when they slashed prices on the ESPN line of sports titles. At $20, the games did more than enough damage to the market share that EA was holding onto. I guess EA saw this as a sign of war because today they signed a 5 year exclusive contract with the NFL and the players, giving EA sole rights to put NFL players, stadiums and teams in its games. This effectively means that Sega can’t make ESPN NFL next year. I expect Sega to challenge this to some degree as it seems highly anti-competitive.
Source: [url=http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7079814]Reuters[/url]
