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February 14th

Posted Mar 14 2008, 08:04 PM Thanks to everyone who’s visited my new blog over the past few days this week. It’s been entertaining reading both the emails I’ve received as well as some of the feedback I’ve seen online since Monday.

First things first, a few things you should know:

-No. I don’t have a mystery ghost writer. Believe it or not, this was actually my idea and I’m managing to carve out a little bit of time at least once a week, if not more, to share my (sometimes) random thoughts. I love this stuff … it’s a lot of fun.

-Yes. I agree, the format we’re posting in right now isn’t ideal. It also isn’t final. As I said on Monday, I know I’m a little late to the blogosphere, so please forgive me here that it’s going to take a little time to get this exactly the way we want it. But the wheels are in motion for this to get bigger and better over time. Have patience – all will be resolved in due time.

- Yes. I love the feedback. Trust me, I’ve heard it all over the years – the good and the bad … and the really bad – so it’s fun hearing from you and having this dialogue. And while I won’t be able to reply to all of you, you should expect me to use this forum to touch on as many of the big themes and questions I see as possible.

I also wanted to take a few minutes to give you my thoughts on the news we announced yesterday regarding the extension of our exclusive licenses with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS. Here are a few things I think you should know. I want to make sure you have the facts straight from me, and while some of you may still take issue with the situation, it’s important to me that you have a grasp on the issues.

- Quality is our top priority. Everything else is a distant second place. This year’s Madden has its best scores since the transition, it’s won numerous awards, and we feel like we’ve got great momentum heading into this year and real reason to be optimistic.

- When people say that EA forced the NFL and NFLPA into going exclusive on this license, they really couldn’t be further from the truth. Four years ago, the NFL determined they wanted to take their business to one partner and opened that opportunity up to anyone who wished to bid. Several did, and we’re delighted that we earned the exclusivity rights. Likewise, we’re thrilled to have been able to extend our agreements with both the league and players association.

- Why now? Adding an extra three years to these agreements during a pre-determined negotiating window allows us to plan for the long term and know that we’re in a position to invest in the engine and invest in the resources it will take to make great NFL football games for years to come. It’s just good business, and again allows us to invest and innovate.

- While we’re thrilled to have this exclusive license, there’s certainly nothing that prevents other companies from releasing football games. We saw that this year and know there are other football-related games in development. Believe me, our team never rests and they’re anxious to continue to innovate in the years to come. We welcome the competition.

- One of the most exciting things about this partnership is that it allows us to experiment with other experiences that complement what we do on Madden. You’ve seen that in the past with Head Coach, NFL Tour and even Madden en Espanol last year. Some of you may not even realize we even do our own Fantasy Football on easports.com, and that’ s an area that I think we can do more in. Count on this: we’ll have more announcements coming very soon to show you that we’re committed to finding new high-quality NFL- related game experiences. We even provide our technology for world-class brands to promote their football emotion and authenticity. For those of you that didn’t get to see it, here is a link to the Nike TV commercial we worked on, using the Madden engine. We did two versions, Giants and Patriots. Even though I would only like to show you the Pats version, the good sportsman in me allows you to view both: http://www.nike.com/usnikefootball/? sitesrc=uslanding

- Last fall, I was at Wembley Stadium for the Giants-Dolphins game. As awful, quite frankly, as that game turned out being (due in no small part to the typically miserable London weather), 90,000 hardy fans turned out and gave the NFL great reason to believe that globalization of the game is a real strategic priority. I see no better way to introduce football to people in other parts of the world than through the universal language of videogames and Madden. (And, by the way, I never, EVER, could have fathomed that the NY Giants team I saw that afternoon would eventually be the Super Bowl champions. It still disgusts me. 18-1? Simply not good enough…).

Thanks for hearing me out. We’re so passionate about our NFL games, and we know there are millions of fans out there who are to, that it’s important to me that you all understand the real story.

And if you have a problem with it, take it out on me and not on the team in Orlando busting their butts building the best Madden in the 20 year history of the franchise. Incredible… 20 years. Tell me how many other games have had that kind of track record. This is going to be quite a celebration this year.

One last thing … I know a number of you will be at GDC next week or reading about some of what will go on there. If you don’t believe me when I tell you how much energy and passion and truly remarkable innovation that goes into developing Madden year in and year out, I urge you to check out a lecture we’ll give next week in San Francisco. Philip Holt, the head of our Tiburon studio, will be speaking on all the detailed ins and outs that go into making Madden one of the most popular games in the history of the industry. It’s a fascinating and complicated process that Philip leads in Orlando and I’d urge you to check out his talk.

I’m off to practice kicking field goals. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you will soon…

Drop me a line at InsidetheGame@ea.com.

- Peter