NFL

Don’t Worry: Even If The 2012 Football Season Doesn’t Happen, Madden Will

In a move sure to excite the sports video-game playing world, EA Sports extended its contract with the NFL, guaranteeing we can control animated football players in Madden 2012 even if no real football is being played.

The league gave EA sports a financial break, reducing an undisclosed value from the NFL’s most lucrative non-TV contract, as a lockout looms over the NFL. The two sides extended their deal through 2013, Sports Business Journal reports.

“For one of our core partners in a difficult environment, we say let’s look at this, and maybe it makes some sense to extend something out longer and give our partner some relief in the short term but gain something on the back end,” said Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, chairman of the NFL’s business ventures committee.

EA Sports also has a separate deal with the NFL Players Union through 2012, so there will be at least one more year of Madden before EA Sports has to change the name to The Replacements 2013.

As SBJ points out, EA’s games allow for continuous updating during the season to account for weekly player performance, so unplayed NFL games could make purchasing Madden less attractive (hopefully a Y2K-type glitch doesn’t update the game by deleting rosters completely).

You know what else makes purchasing this game less attractive? The fact that you might end up spending some $60 on a video game meant to simulate a non-existent football season. Why not just keep playing Madden 2011 and save the cash for NBA Live 12? Oh, right…