EA: Tiger Woods needs to start winning

By Fred Dutton Published 1 December, 2010

Publisher turns the screw on troubled golfer.

Tiger Woods needs to start winning games in order for his business relationship with EA to make sense, says EA boss John Riccitiello.

"We have no plans to move away from him, but it's a business relationship on the basis of we make the best golf game and he's the best golfer," Riccitiello told Reuters.

"Both of those things need to be true in the long run for the partnership to make sense."

"He sort of stuck with us for a very long time and we made great business together," he added, "and we're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for a period of time."

The golfing icon has suffered a serious dip in form since last year's tabloid feeding frenzy surrounding his extra-marital affairs.

Sales of EA's annual Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise have taken a battering this year too, with speculation that the two turn of events might not be entirely unrelated.

Sales of the 2011 iteration were down 68 per cent compared to the previous year's edition, leading retail analyst Doug Creutz to comment, "we are concerned that Woods' scandal woes may have permanently damaged the sales potential of what we believe to be EA's third most important sports franchise, behind Madden and FIFA."

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • darkmorgado #1 1 year ago

    Are people really that bothered about it?

    I mean, surely the fact that they have just put out annual updates is going to dampen consumer enthusiasm a lot more than the activities of the celebrity endorsing the product?

    Doesn't seem to be an awful lot you can do to continually innovate a golf game.

  • knightmt #2 1 year ago

    Franchise fatigue.

  • Jimster71 #3 1 year ago

    The series could do with a FIFA style overhaul (rebuilt from a ground up a few years ago) and some proper Move/Kinect support. Poor sales are more likely to be that this year's game is only marginally different to last year's and the technology is looking a bit long in the tooth now.

  • phoopipe #4 1 year ago

    Don't blame his shit golf for the fact it's practically the same game in a new package.

    Love the game but there is not enough changes to warrant a new purchase every year.

  • INSOMANiAC #5 1 year ago

    I think its more to do with the fact its just the exact same game as last year with some tacked on shitty putting system, the fact the cheeky twats expect you to pay silly money for a plethora of courses from day one is just rubbing salt into the wounds. Put them in the fucking game and make it worth paying full price for.

    EA are cunts and their business strategy with minor tweaks, excessive DLC and 'Online pass' with the Tiger Woods games typifies everything that is wrong with them.

    CUNTS !

  • phoopipe #6 1 year ago

    Or what insomniac said :)

  • MiniAmin #7 1 year ago

    Tiger Woods' declining performances won't damage the popularity of this game. He's still the most famous golfer on the planet and his name remains marketable, irrespective of his performances.

    Good luck trying to sell "Vijay Singh 2011" EA

  • electrolite #8 1 year ago

    The 2010 Wii game was pretty good. Apart from that I prefer Everybodys Golf. The old three-button press is far more accurate than the analogue stick swing (I'm fairly certain I put exactly the same thing on here in 2003 but what the heck)

  • Ultrasoundwave #9 1 year ago

    Does this mean Torres will be taken off the front of the PES box??

  • OnlyMe #10 1 year ago

    The name is marketable regardless of his current performance. If someone was to make a Mike Tyson boxing game, does that mean he needs to get back into boxing and start winning world championship.

    What about poor Colin McRae? I guess Codemasters will stop using his name?

    Oh, and Star Wars should start becoming good again. Wait, no that doesn't matter. It's the name that sells it, not the quality. Just like Tiger Woods, eh?
    Edited by OnlyMe at 01/12/10 @ 08:02

  • Lord_Gremlin #11 1 year ago

    http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/26...

  • metamorphic #12 1 year ago

    @OnlyMe
    Sorry, are you still living in 2007? The Colin McRae moniker was dropped by Codies in favour of DiRt *ages* ago. Similarly, Codies also dropped Brian Lara Cricket for Ashes and most recently, International Cricket 10.
    Edited by metamorphic at 01/12/10 @ 08:16

  • OnlyMe #13 1 year ago

    metamorphic: sorry to break it to you, but Dirt 2 is actually called Colin McRae: Dirt 2. Released 2009. So if they dropped the Colin McRae moniker, they still haven't released a game in the series without it.

  • Bigmac1910 #14 1 year ago

    As far as I know, a big portion of the audience have girl friends and wife's, and are getting it as a present. But now that Tiger has been unfaithful, the wife's and girlfriends don't want their husbands and boyfriends to play with a character like that.

    As the yearly iteration hasn't hurt the franchise for a decade, I think it's more than just plain fatigue. Oh yeah, he also have to win again, who wants to play with a loser anyway.

  • Geordiemp #15 1 year ago

    Waiting for someon eto do a good MOVE implementation of a swing...

    Want to see 120 FPS swing please, or 60 at lleast, no lag, 1:1

    I dont care about the graphics of the golferl, infcat, just show the course and the club / iron / driver....

    Tiger 11 MOVE was poor, did not buy...

  • feistycheese #16 1 year ago

    I could do without the name to be honest, would be nice if EA could do some sort of deal with the European Tour as well as the PGA (especially considering that its Europe who have got the better golfers right now). Then we could see players like Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer etc on the game, and a lot of new courses such as Dubai etc.

    Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour, very much like the game, is looking a bit stale.

  • Cronan #17 1 year ago

    The dip in sales had absolutely nothing to do with EA shitting out a carbon-copy of this game every year, with the same fucked-up online connectivity. Not all sports can be properly annualised, golf, boxing, MMA, all have seen sales dips lately on the backs of poor annual iterations.

    And I agree with @Insomniac, EA are cunts.

  • BabyJesus #18 1 year ago

    EA should say these things privately, Tiger made some mistakes but he's been treated like a war criminal. Give the guy a bloody break.

  • DAN.E.B #19 1 year ago

    Agreed lets all blame the guy on the box for the game being shit
    tha last woods game I enjoyed was the last one on the original xbox
    when they released the 360 version they stripped all the content out and slowly over the years drip feeded it back in hoping nobody noticed.

  • ozzzy189 #20 1 year ago

    ea need to start making a decent golf game. pot, kettle ?

  • BuddyChrist #21 1 year ago

    Add an affair tycoon mini-game.... And a "give-a-shito meter" for each time he changes his putter