PSP World

NBA signs new deals with five publishers

Reuters is reporting that the NBA today signed multi-year deals with five different game publishers. This is refreshing to see after the recent single-publisher deals inked by the NFL and the MLB. Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Midway Games, Sony and Atari, have all signed long-term deals with the NBA.

"Its been our experience that relative competition among the (publishers) has inspired a tremendous amount of creativity," said Sal LaRocca, senior vice president of global merchandise for the NBA, in an interview. "We felt that having a real diverse offering of products that runs the gamut in terms of demographics ... that we would maintain a greater share of mind day in and day out," he said.

Industry sources pegged the total value of the five and six-year contracts at $400 million dollars.