Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Monday announced a long-term licensing deal with Major League Baseball, a week after reaching an accord with the union representing the league's players.
Under the exclusive agreements with Major League Baseball Properties, the Major League Baseball Players Association and Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Take-Two will develop, publish and distribute baseball video games beginning in 2006.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. Take-Two shares were up 31 cents at $35.30 in morning trade on Nasdaq.
Last week the players' union said it had struck an exclusive seven-year deal with Take-Two, best known to most people as the publisher of the "Grand Theft Auto" series of criminal adventure games.
Take-Two's baseball deal is not entirely exclusive, though, as the various console manufacturers still retain the right to make their own baseball games for their platforms.
Take-Two rival Electronic Arts Inc. said last week it was looking into the possibility an independent publisher could still make a baseball game by partnering with one of the console makers.
But Take-Two said Monday its deals block any other independent publisher or developer from publishing official baseball games, "either directly or in affiliation with a hardware manufacturer."
Take-Two also said it signed Derek Jeter, a player for the New York Yankees baseball team, to a multiyear contract as a spokesperson for its baseball simulation titles.
While sports video games were the second-largest industry category in 2004, at $1.18 billion in sales, baseball titles were far down the list -- number four, according to the NPD Group, behind football, basketball and extreme sports.
NPD, whose sales figures are the official metric for the games industry, said the entire baseball video game market in 2004 was about 2.5 million units.
That comprised all the various games released by different publishers on multiple platforms. In comparison, the top-selling football title of the year sold more than 3.2 million units on a single platform.
