Electronic Arts Sticking With Tiger Woods For Video Game Franchise
Electronic Arts completely branded its PGA Tour video game series with Tiger Woods. For years Tiger Woods has appeared on the cover of EA Sports' annual PGA Tour video games. Tiger Woods' name is even part of the game's title. Tiger Woods' affairs and decision to leave golf indefinitely could cost Electronic Arts a lot of money. Games Beat reports that Electronic Arts plans to stick with Tiger Woods despite the golf star's actions.
Woods has served as the brand and cover athlete for EA's PGA golf games for years. A week ago, EA issued a statement saying that it would stand by Woods. But if the games bearing Woods’ name fail to sell, you can bet that EA will find a new cover athlete. It will just be hard to find someone with the star power of Woods, who has had a remarkable career in professional golf.
Woods admitted to "infidelity" on his web site and wrote, "After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person."
EA has been using Woods to brand its golf games for more than a decade and has launched 12 games based on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour brand game.
EA Sports issued a statement saying, "We respect that this is a very difficult, and private, situation for Tiger and his family. At this time, the strategy for our Tiger Woods PGA TOUR business remains unchanged."
Electronic Arts doesn't have a lot of choice. They named the game after Tiger and rebranding it would be very expensive. Electronic Arts' best option is to wait and see what happens with Tiger Woods. Electronic Arts will be hoping that Tiger Woods can repair his image and return to the game of golf.
