10 Little-Known Decisions That Changed The Course Of Gaming History
4. EA Listen To Their Third-Choice Endorsement
Today, for better or worse, Electronic Arts (EA) are one of the gaming industry's major players, responsible for the ownership of a number of bestselling franchises. One of their primary areas of domination is the sports genre, as every year, iterations of FIFA, Madden, PGA Tour and NHL are amongst the top selling games across the world. Once upon a time, they were just one of many publishers vying for position in a competitive and fast-growing industry. They may well have faded if they'd taken the easy route to market with their first Madden title. Having been unable to secure a marketing deal with either his first choice, Joe Montana (who was under contract with Atari) or his second choice, Joe Kapp, EA founder Trip Hawkins made the decision to turn to John Madden, already a pundit with his playing days behind him, for endorsement and expertise. Madden was happy to be involved, but insisted on making alterations to EA's vision, which would've featured six or seven players per team rather than eleven. Refusing to put his name on something that wasn't real, he forced a three year development of the first game to bear his name, practically unheard of at the time, and worked with the company to develop the plays that would be contained within it. Though ultimately the series' 1988 debut on Apple II computers wasn't a major success, subsequent releases in the early 1990s were, meaning that the series has continued to this day and outlived Madden's long broadcasting career. Hawkins' decided to listen to his star rather than simply use his name to make a quick buck. Sega did the opposite, picking up Atari's deal with Joe Montana and releasing a simplified and largely mediocre game (which they actually needed EA's help to finish) in 1991. Had Hawkins gotten his way and secured Montana, who had no input on the game bearing his name and most likely would've consented to EA releasing their originally-planned rush job, the sports genre would probably look a lot different today.
