EA’s Moore Speaks On Fighter’s Image Rights
here has been much debate online as to what fighters would be available to appeat in the EA MMA game slated for release in 2010. EA President Peter Moore recently spoke with gamer site Gamasutra and elaborated on where EA stands in relation to being to use which fighter’s images in the game:
Is it possible to bring UFC titles into the EA game, since the license is elsewhere? Gamasutra asked Moore, as part of an in-depth new interview about the state of EA Sports.
Moore commented: “We are looking obviously at every fighter that we can, that we feel is applicable from a quality level and then analyzing their image rights, and if they’re available and we want them — then we’ll get them. If they’re not then we’ll move on to the next fighter.”
The mention of image rights is notable because of a controversy with THQ’s UFC game late last year, in which UFC fighter Jon Fitch allegedly refused to sign a lifetime contract for his likeness to be used by THQ in its games — and was removed from the UFC. (He later recanted and continued to fight in the league.)
EA will run into problems if they are seeking to add UFC fighters to their mix of imaged athletes. Once the THQ game came into being, the UFC amended their contracts to more exclusively claim the image rights of fighters, presumably without compensation since none is enumerated. The Zuffa Standard Contract clause in question:
Additionally, Fighter acknowledges the existence of UFC-branded video games developed, being developed or to be developed by various companies, including, but not limited to, THQ, Inc., and the potential for a WEC-branded video game, and Fighter further acknowledges that the Rights granted herein to ZUFFA shall be exclusive with respect to any such video games, and any derivatives of such video games created by ZUFFA or its licensees and branded with UFC, Pride, WEC or any brand subsequently developed, owned or acquired by Zuffa or any of its agents or subsidiaries; and
The way the contract reads to this non-lawyer’s eye indicates that those under current Zuffa contract with the above clause would be exclusive to the THQ game, even if they do not appear in the game. Those rights only seem to last the term of the contract, though, which is why there was the necessity to threaten AKA and other camps with expulsion form the UFC in order to obtain the lifetime exclusive rights. This also explains why those like Tim Sylvia, Andre Arlovski, and Tito Ortiz would now be able to sign possibly with the EA MMA game.
One tricky area is what currently UFC contracted fighters did EA contact before Zuffa inserted this clause into the Standard Contract. I would imagine that EA got with Randy Couture (who is rumored to be int he game) while he was on an older contract that was not as explicit with regard to video game rights. The question here is what other UFC fighters might have EA approached during this interregnum before the UFC got aggrsssive with regard to these rights. Couture was signed, but were others approached? With the vast number of high end fighters int he THQ game, this availability would seem to be minimal.
