Tuesday 29 October 2013

Golf: Tiger Woods Ends Partnership with EA After 15 years Worth $771million (£479m)




EA Sports will not renew their partnership with golfing superstar Tiger Woods at the end of their current deal, bringing an end to their 15-year partnership.

Electronic Arts confirmed that it would be calling it a day after a decade-and-a-half of the Tiger Woods PGA Tour computer game series.

"We had an incredible run," Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN as he explained the latest contract had expired.

"Outside of [John] Madden, you would be hard pressed to find a sports figure that means as much to a video game company as Tiger meant to EA. But times are changing and EA had to re-evaluate the partnership and frankly so did we."

According to market tracking company NPD Group, the franchise sold $771million (£479m) worth of games during the length of the deal.

EA had previously insisted that their relationship with the 14-time Major winner had not changed, after his well published love affair in 2009.

Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and Tag Heur either cancelled or refused to renew their deals with the world number one, after the details of his personal life came to public knowledge.

It now leaves just Nike and NetJets as the only two companies left in partnership with Woods that already had ties prior to '09.

EA vice president and general manager Daryl Holt wished Woods all the best in the future.

"We've always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavours," he said.

The next big question for Electronic Arts is who will replace the world number one on the game's front cover, and perhaps more importantly, what will the next version be called? The door could well be open to Rory McIlroy, with the young Northern Irishman popular on both sides of the Atlantic. However, that's merely speculation at this stage.




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