Porsche's Contract With EA

[JR98]

Forza Horizon 2 is getting a Porsche expansion pack, does this mean EA no longer have an exclusive deal with them not playing ball for Forza 5, or have Microsoft paid up again?

MS have likely paid up. I've heard nothing about EA's deal with Porsche ending...

 

[RACECAR]

Its interesting though the gap between the last time Forza had Porsche as DLC to now. Wonder what made them decide to do it again this time?

 

[JR98]

Its interesting though the gap between the last time Forza had Porsche as DLC to now. Wonder what made them decide to do it again this time?

 

[RACECAR]

Well that's obvious, but I mean what made Microsoft decide to pay this time after a long while of not Featuring Porsches in their game.

 

[JR98]

Well that's obvious, but I mean what made Microsoft decide to pay this time after a long while of not Featuring Porsches in their game.

Maybe they waited til FH2's season pass ran out to maximise profits...

 

[JKgo]

... So it's true? FH2 getting Porsche DLC pack. Huh. So MS have something to talk about in E3, racing game wise.

...In the meantime, what will Sony do? Will they finally show off the DC's PS+ thingymajigy? I heard they were doing servers switcheroo as we speak...

I wouldn't be surprised this was done to screw Sony over again...

 

[JR98]

... So it's true? FH2 getting Porsche DLC pack. Huh. So MS have something to talk about in E3, racing game wise.

...In the meantime, what will Sony do? Will they finally show off the DC's PS+ thingymajigy? I heard they were doing servers switcheroo as we speak...

I wouldn't be surprised this was done to screw Sony over again...

The latest patch notes on PS4 mention the PS+ Edition so we can only hope. Well, not me, I have the full version...

 

[ClydeYellow]

Its interesting though the gap between the last time Forza had Porsche as DLC to now. Wonder what made them decide to do it again this time?

Heh. AFAIK T10 has exclusive licensing for Ferrari on Microsoft platforms which may have been used as a bargaining chip, plus a privileged deal of sorts with McLaren, plus the new deal with Ford. Do ut des seems a likely option.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Did @amar212 have a say in this?

 

[Tornado]

Heh. AFAIK T10 has exclusive licensing for Ferrari on Microsoft platforms which may have been used as a bargaining chip, plus a privileged deal of sorts with McLaren, plus the new deal with Ford. Do ut des seems a likely option.

Microsoft, circa the release of Forza 3, held an exclusive licence for Ferrari on Microsoft platforms. This means they had control over them officially appearing in games on the 360 and Windows PCs, and were able to allow or disallow other companies to do so. These were supposedly the terms that Microsoft used to bargain with EA to get Porsches into Forza 3. Microsoft has seemingly let those exclusive rights expire since then, since according to Greenawalt himself circa-Forza 4's prerelease they were unwilling to continue using them as competitive leverage over other games.

 

[ClydeYellow]

Microsoft, circa the release of Forza 3, held an exclusive licence for Ferrari on Microsoft platforms. This means they had control over them officially appearing in games on the 360 and Windows PCs, and were able to allow or disallow other companies to do so. These were supposedly the terms that Microsoft used to bargain with EA to get Porsches into Forza 3. Microsoft has seemingly let those exclusive rights expire since then, since according to Greenawalt himself circa-Forza 4's prerelease they were unwilling to continue using them as competitive leverage over other games.

Yeah, I remember reading about that (I don't recall if you posted it or I read it somewhere else)... But that's an awful lot of ifs and other kinds of speculatives we're dealing with, and I think we can't still rule out the possibility of Greenwalt changing his mind and exchanging Ferrari for Porsche with EA. There's also the terms of their agreements with McLaren and Ford (regarding the Ford Performance line) which terms haven't been disclosed.

Of course, it may also be that Microsoft paid EA a lot of money. Or that the Porsche/EA deal expired... If that's the case, I'll grab my popcorn and sit there and watch while all developers scramble to get Porsche in their games as quickly as possible.

 

[Toshost]

Since there was no NFS one year, other games can have Porsche? I don't know maybe it is that way but the thing i know is that if Forza can get Porsche that means that GT can have it too. If Kaz and PD don't put Porsche now i consider that they don't care about this game.
I would pay up to 50$ for a DLC to have Porsche's greatest models in Gt

 

[JadeRaven]

I thought there was a term to the EA-Porsche contract. Has the contract been extended? That exclusivity agreement was made years and years ago (in the '90s?) Should expire any day now unless it's been extended.

 

[JadeRaven]

Actually on second thought, this must have been extended, unless for some reason it was a 20, 30 year contract to begin with, which is unlikely.

 

[Smurfybug]

 

[pasigiri]

Heh. AFAIK T10 has exclusive licensing for Ferrari on Microsoft platforms which may have been used as a bargaining chip, plus a privileged deal of sorts with McLaren, plus the new deal with Ford. Do ut des seems a likely option.

So what is Sony's/PD's bargaining chip(s)?

 

[ClydeYellow]

So what is Sony's/PD's bargaining chip(s)?

PD doesn't have one because it doesn't have any exclusive licensing deal that could interest EA (that we know of). Sony may refuse to license EA games (which is a daring, perhaps suicidal move), or offer licensing at a lower cost (which I suspect is what happened with MS/T10 and EA - remember, the licensing fees alone may be up to 10$ per unit sold).

Whatever happened in between EA and T10 (whether an exclusive license agreement with a manufacturer was used as a bargaining chip, status as a first-party developer was pulled to obtain EA a "privileged" status on Xbox and PC, or a lot of money simply changed hands), I don't see that happening again with PD.

P.S: of course, take what I say with a generous pinch of salt. I am in no way an insider to the gaming industry, and what I say is pure guesswork stemming from a tenuous grasp of copyright/trademark laws and economics.

 

[pasigiri]

PD doesn't have one because it doesn't have any exclusive licensing deal that could interest EA (that we know of). Sony may refuse to license EA games (which is a daring, perhaps suicidal move), or offer licensing at a lower cost (which I suspect is what happened with MS/T10 and EA - remember, the licensing fees alone may be up to 10$ per unit sold).

Whatever happened in between EA and T10 (whether an exclusive license agreement with a manufacturer was used as a bargaining chip, status as a first-party developer was pulled to obtain EA a "privileged" status on Xbox and PC, or a lot of money simply changed hands), I don't see that happening again with PD.

P.S: of course, take what I say with a generous pinch of salt. I am in no way an insider to the gaming industry, and what I say is pure guesswork stemming from a tenuous grasp of copyright/trademark laws and economics.

What about PD's FIA partnership? Could that be used as leverage. It's not a license per se, but the details of the partnership isn't clear from what I've seen.

 

[Johnnypenso]

What about PD's FIA partnership? Could that be used as leverage. It's not a license per se, but the details of the partnership isn't clear from what I've seen.

I'd guess that the FIA would partner up with anyone that wanted to shell out the cash to do so. Likely only Forza at this point would be in the market. If the FIA is doing this to promote motorsport as they say they are, they would want as many game makers on board as possible for the broadest possible exposure.

 

[ClydeYellow]

What about PD's FIA partnership? Could that be used as leverage. It's not a license per se, but the details of the partnership isn't clear from what I've seen.

The details of the partnership are likely to not be of any interest to EA, which is in the street-racing game business! Also, AFAIK it's not a licensing agreement, but rather a partnership for the joint development of Maker-knows-what.

 

[pasigiri]

I'd guess that the FIA would partner up with anyone that wanted to shell out the cash to do so. Likely only Forza at this point would be in the market. If the FIA is doing this to promote motorsport as they say they are, they would want as many game makers on board as possible for the broadest possible exposure.

True. True.

 

[Tired Tyres]

EA's contract may expire in 2016 according to the news page.

https://www.gtplanet.net/porsches-exclusive-contract-with-ea-reportedly-set-to-expire-in-2016/

Let's hope Kaz is on the ball with this one.

 

[05XR8]

 

[tankuroded]

EA's contract may expire in 2016 according to the news page.

https://www.gtplanet.net/porsches-exclusive-contract-with-ea-reportedly-set-to-expire-in-2016/

Let's hope Kaz is on the ball with this one.

No 🤬, EA will automatically renew it.

 

[Draconlidz]

No 🤬, EA will automatically renew it.

If EA will renew the contract automactically, Forza 6 don't have to wait the Porsche until 2016.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Both parties have to agree to renew contracts. If Kaz has done a good job of building a relationship with Porsche then I suspect they won't automatically do anything.

 

[snowgt]

If the contract really ends sometime soon, GT7 better is not released with a sizeable number of Porsches. It is after all the single most glaring omission from the GT series.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Even if the Porsche-EA contract were to end next year, adding Porsches to GT at this stage would be pretty meaningless since most people don't even care any more.

 

[Pseudopod]

How do you know that? Did you do a survey?

 

[snowgt]

Even if the Porsche-EA contract were to end next year, adding Porsches to GT at this stage would be pretty meaningless since most people don't even care any more.

And surely the countless Porsche-threads on GTP are a testament to that?