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''ESPN NFL 2K5'' is an
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by
Visual Concepts Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing Sports video game, sports games in the ''2K'' franchise, most recently ''NBA 2K'' and ' ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
and
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
consoles. Co-
Published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
by Global Star Software and
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
, it is the sixth installment of the '' NFL 2K series'' and the last to use official
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) licensing. Gameplay is presented as a live
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
television broadcast and features the voices and digital likenesses of multiple ESPN on-air personalities. The game was originally released on July 20, 2004. It was the last ''NFL 2K'' game to be released before
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
(EA) signed an exclusive rights agreement with the NFL to make 2K's rival ''
Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...
'' series the only officially licensed NFL game. It was also the last game still being developed by Sega at the time. ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' received universal critical acclaim, with most critics praising the VIP system and the incorporation of the ESPN broadcast mechanics. It earned numerous end-of-year accolades and honors, and was nominated for several more. It has continued to earn praise retrospectively and is very often considered one of the greatest video games ever made.


Gameplay

The game features a franchise mode with a ''
SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande,  Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
'' feature hosted by Chris Berman. He outlines the games of the current week with his co-host
Trey Wingo Hal Chapman "Trey" Wingo III (; born September 19, 1963) is an American former co-host of ESPN '' Golic and Wingo'', '' SportsCenter'', and '' NFL Live''. He has previously served as host of the Women's NCAA basketball tournament. Early life W ...
who talks about the latest injuries and free agent deals and trades during the season. Mel Kiper Jr. hosts the draft portion of the segment, while Suzy Kolber reports from the sidelines. There is also weekly preparation for the coming week, which allows the player to make decisions on training and preparation. The player can also create their own team, deciding the team logos (over 10 are available), team name, the team's city, the team's stadium look and build, jerseys and how good the team is. It also has a feature called first-person football, which gives the player the experience on the field looking from the eyes of the players. There is also the traditional create-a-player mode. One of the features in the game is a celebrity game involving Jamie Kennedy, Steve-O, David Arquette,
Funkmaster Flex Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1967), professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Ho ...
, or
Carmen Electra Carmen Electra (born Tara Leigh Patrick, April 20, 1972) is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis where she met Prince (musician), Prince who produced her Carm ...
which is initiated by a phone call from one of the aforementioned "celebrities" in the player's custom crib. The player plays against a celebrity with their own custom team of
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...
players. The teams the celebrities use are The Buartville Funkmasters, Cincinnati Electra Shock, LA Dreamteam, Los Angeles Locos, and the Upper Darby Cheesesteaks. During the game, the celebrities appear in a small box and use trash-talk. If the player wins the game, they receive the team's stadium as a playable venue. ESPN NFL 2K5 features the voices of Terry McGovern as play-by-play announcer Dan Stevens, Jay Styne as color commentator Peter O'Keefe, sideline reporter Suzy Kolber, studio host Chris Berman,
Trey Wingo Hal Chapman "Trey" Wingo III (; born September 19, 1963) is an American former co-host of ESPN '' Golic and Wingo'', '' SportsCenter'', and '' NFL Live''. He has previously served as host of the Women's NCAA basketball tournament. Early life W ...
, and Mel Kiper Jr., with Berman appearing at the start of a player's own
SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande,  Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...
broadcast and during the loading screen for the player's own ESPN NFL Countdown pregame show, and Kolber appearing in the Player of the Game segment of the postgame show.


Release

In what ''
Grantland ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed ...
'' later described as "one of the greatest, most insidious guerrilla-warfare moves in the history of video game competition", ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' was priced at $19.99 the day it shipped, much lower than the market leader ''
Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...
'' at $49.99. This greatly reduced ''Madden'' sales that year; one EA Sports developer recalled that " scared the hell out of us". This led EA to reduce ''Madden NFL 2005''s price to $29.95.


Reception

Upon release, ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' received "universal acclaim" on both platforms according to the review aggregation website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. Matthew Kato of ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
'' rated the game 9.5 out of 10 and summarized his positive review by calling it "the best football title there is and the only one that's a must have", a quote which was paraphrased on the front cover of the game's keep case. Andrew Reiner echoed this sentiment in the review's "Second Opinion" section, calling ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' "the greatest football game to date." Chris Carle of ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' gave the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions a 9.3 and 9.4 out of 10 respectively, and each version was awarded the publication's "Editor's Choice". Carle praised the game's various features, particularly the VIP system, which he called, "Probably the coolest innovation ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' has to offer." Bro Buzz of ''
GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'' gave the game a perfect 5 out of 5, praising the incorporation of
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
broadcast styles within the game and noting that "the tight controls do a great job of commanding a slick array of player moves and on-the-fly scheme adjustments." Many reviews compared ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' to ''
Madden NFL 2005 ''Madden NFL 2005'' is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon, along with Exient Entertainment and Budcat Creations, and published by EA Sports. The 16th installment of the '' Madden NFL ...
'', which was released in the same year. In a direct comparison of the two games, ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' declared ''Madden'' to be the better game, with scores of 9.5, 9.0, and 9.0, while ''NFL 2K5'' was given scores of 8.5, 8.5, and 8.0. Alex Navarro of ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' recommended ''NFL 2K5'', noting superior offensive gameplay, special teams, online play, features, presentation, graphics, and sound. Jon Robinson of IGN agreed that the graphics and presentation of ''NFL 2K5'' were superior to ''Madden'', yet he felt ''Madden'' was the better game due to the superior gameplay. Kato opened his review by claiming, "''ESPN NFL 2K5'' is better than ''Madden NFL 2005''. I say this without reservation", while Buzz stated, "Each season, Sega's ESPN NFL series has been making steady progress in its quest for video-game football stardom. This year, the design guys at Visual Concepts have turned ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' into the most entertaining show in video-game football."


Sales

In the United States, the PlayStation 2 release of ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' had sold 1.7 million copies and generated $33 million in revenue by July 2006, two years after its release. During the same time period, sales of ''NFL 2K5'' reached 3 million combined units across all consoles, and it was the 23rd highest-selling game launched for either the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
, or
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
.


Awards

''ESPN NFL 2K5'' won multiple awards for the best sports game of 2004. During the AIAS'
8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 8th edition of the D.I.C.E. Awards, Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2004 in video games, 2004. The awar ...
(now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' won in the category of " Console Sports Simulation Game of the Year". At E3 2004, it won the Best Sports Game award from ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'', and in IGN's year-end awards, it won Best Sports Game released for the Xbox. Upon release, ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' won ''GameSpot''s Xbox Game of the Month and PlayStation 2 Game of the Month awards, and the publication later named it the year's "Best Traditional Sports Game" and "Best Budget Game" across all platforms. It was also nominated for Best Sports Game across all video game systems by IGN and the ''
Spike Video Game Awards The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by '' GameT ...
'', losing in both to ''Madden NFL 2005''. In the
Satellite Awards The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
, given annually by the
International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, representing both domestic and foreign markets in print, television, radio, cable and new media outlets. Its members have annually been g ...
, it was the only NFL simulation game nominated for Outstanding Sports Game, although '' NFL Street'', a football game that does not simulate NFL gameplay, was also nominated. Since its release, numerous websites and publications have ranked ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' as one of the greatest sports video games of all time, listed as 44th by ''
Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...
'' in 2011. In his "Sports Video Game Rankings" compiled for ESPN, Robinson ranked the game 8th, two spots higher than ''Madden NFL 2005'' despite Robinson's preference for ''Madden'' in his contemporary review. ''
Yardbarker Yardbarker is a digital media property focused on the publishing of sports and entertainment news and information. Founded in 2006, the property distributes content on Yardbarker.com, social media platforms and via third party syndication partn ...
'' included ''NFL 2K5'' in an unordered list of the 25 best sports games of all time, noting that, "For a brief moment, there was a true challenger to the Madden hegemony. ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' had a different look and a slightly different game play, and people loved it." ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' ranked ''NFL 2K5'' as the 41st greatest video game of all-time regardless of genre, stating, "Sorry, Madden NFL fans, true football gaming fanatics know this is the best gridiron game ever made."


Legacy

In retrospective analyses, ''ESPN NFL 2K5'' has continued to receive favorable comparisons to the ''Madden NFL'' series and is noted for its depth that has yet to be matched in subsequent years. In 2014, Owen S. Good of ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
'' wrote that ''NFL 2K5'' was "sports video gaming's
King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
, eternally populist, noble and heroic, champion of an age long ago enough to make its triumphs soar and its shortcomings recede to nothingness." Good went on to state that EA's ''Madden'' developers "for 10 years have been haunted by ''NFL 2K5'' — in forums, in comments, in social media — that nothing they do could be as good as something that by now really isn't a video game, but a mythological ideal that grows more romantic with every year". A 2016 ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
'' retrospective by Matthew Kato praised the variety of features in the game, which was noted as "a far cry from the stark decline that followed in EA's NFL titles." Kato concluded by stating, "The title is more than just a novelty or a case of its reputation exceeding its value, a rare feat for the genre in my eyes." The game has very often been considered by critics to be one of the greatest video games ever made.


EA exclusive licensing controversy

In December 2004, EA Sports acquired an exclusive rights agreement with the NFL and NFLPA to be the sole creator of NFL video games. In December 2010, a U.S. district court judge certified a class action anti-trust lawsuit against Electronic Arts for anti-competitive practices to proceed. Electronic Arts settled the class action suit in July 2012 for (equivalent to $ million in ), and retained its exclusive NFL license.


References


Notes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espn Nfl 2k5 2004 video games 2K Sports games ESPN NFL video games Multiplayer and single-player video games NFL 2K video games PlayStation 2 games Sega video games Video games developed in the United States Visual Concepts games Xbox games