The news has been filled with interesting events lately. Today is no different. Take-Two announced that it has secured exclusive third-party publishing rights from the union representing Major League Baseball players for the next seven years. The Wall Street Journal reports that Take-Two has agreed to pay a licensing fee of between $80 million and $90 million to the Major League Baseball Players Association for the rights to use the names and likenesses of professional ballplayers in its games beginning next year.
In related news, Take-Two has purchased Visual Concepts for $24 million. Visual Concepts developed the ESPN series of football titles. Despite losing the bid to the NFL and ESPN rights earlier this year, Take-Two has opted to purchase the company as part of the terms related to Sega and Take-Two's football publishing deal agreed to last year.
"The ESPN Videogames line has not been a key profit driver in the North American market for Sega," Naoya Tsurumi, CEO of Sega of America, told GameSpot. "While Sega recognizes the strength and depth of the ESPN Videogames franchise, we must remain committed to growing content that will help boost revenues across all western territories."
As part of the deal, Sega will apparently distribute select Take-Two published sports software titles to Japanese console and arcades.