Would You Still Buy/Play OOTP If It Didn't Have the MLB License?

[PSUColonel]

We had no license for years and it was fine. As long as the ability to mod the game exists then it’s no skin off my back.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by jeffw3000

Since I bought OOTP before it had a MLB license, I guess the answer would be yes.

Same…but for me the only caveat would be the ability to mod would have to remain in place.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

We had no license for years and it was fine. As long as the ability to mod the game exists then it’s no skin off my back.

For those of us that were there, it's easy to think "We did it then, We'd do it again", but I think the entire poll is skewed by this assumption.

I honestly think any loss of the license would come with a posting that states "Com2uS asked us to remove all the data concerning this unlicensed league from OOTP. Please do not post any mods which contain official artwork or data on this forum."

Once you are a certain size as a company, once you've been involved in joint promotions and business dealings, once they have granted the license to you for a time, ... it is surely naive to think they'd let that same company walk with the intent to end-run the payment and licensing requirements (if only for precedent's sake) going-forward and let modders easily replace it. If issues persisted, the lawyers would say "Tell us about the scrambling function..."

That's why I'm a "No". I'm not interested in fictional play, and I believe that's all that would be left to readily play. But I don't think it will ever happen. It seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

For those of us that were there, it's easy to think "We did it then, We'd do it again", but I think the entire poll is skewed by this assumption.

I honestly think any loss of the license would come with a posting that states "Com2uS asked us to remove all the data concerning this unlicensed league from OOTP. Please do not post any mods which contain official artwork or data on this forum."

Once you are a certain size as a company, once you've been involved in joint promotions and business dealings, once they have granted the license to you for a time, ... it is surely naive to think they'd let that same company walk with the intent to end-run the payment and licensing requirements (if only for precedent's sake) going-forward and let modders easily replace it. If issues persisted, the lawyers would say "Tell us about the scrambling function..."

That's why I'm a "No". I'm not interested in fictional play, and I believe that's all that would be left to readily play. But I don't think it will ever happen. It seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

What you’re saying makes a lot of sense, but I would also point out there are a lot of other sports management games that allow for mods without scrambling saves. Basically the entire Draft Day series of games, College Football Dynasty, and yes even FM ALL allow for modding without penalty of the scramble.

I not sure why things are so different when it comes to this franchise compared to others????

Granted, in the case of FM the mods cannot be found on the official webpages, but you can still mod without worrying about a scramble. I too doubt this will happen with the MLB, but it has now happened with all of the other leagues. I realize modded can re-create these leagues (just like the games mentioned above) but the issue to me has always been the lack or organization when it comes to OOTP mods. There just aren’t enough good third party websites dedicated to OOTP for hosting purposes.

[Germaniac]

Definitely. I stopped playing historical years ago and moved to fictional play

[OutS|der]

No license would mean no Perfect Team which would kill this game, so no I wouldn't play without the license cause there wouldn't be a game anymore

[Bobbyraz49]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Does the randomize-teams-three-times trick still work?

Ah, whatever, I still play the Raccoons in OOTP 16 and have bought every one since, so it's probably a yes.

Please tell me about the "Does the randomize-teams-three-times trick still work? .

[rudel.dietrich]

If OOTP was to lose or drop the MLB license, I would assume the company is in very serious trouble.
PT requires MLB and PT is why this series exists now.

If the MLB license was to go, I would assume the series would not last much longer.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

If OOTP was to lose or drop the MLB license, I would assume the company is in very serious trouble.
PT requires MLB and PT is why this series exists now.

If the MLB license was to go, I would assume the series would not last much longer.

That's my take, too. Without an affiliation to MLB, there would be no new OOTP each year. It's that simple.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by Bobbyraz49

Please tell me about the "Does the randomize-teams-three-times trick still work? .

A few versions ago when MLB asked for the team names to be removed until a license agreement was in place, we had a few weeks of fake city/team names. But it was a poorly kept secret that if you hit the "Randomize Cities/Nicknames" button three times, the actual MLB team cities/names would magically appear on the correct teams.

[Pelican]

So, with help from posters, the question comes down to “would you be willing to play OOTP with only fictional players?” [I’m ignoring the option to manually create 1200 MLB players and thousands of MiLB players. I doubt that MLB would or could take away the ability to mod. I’m just not up to that job.].

My answer is a hard no on that. I did, mostly by accident (yet another classic case of user error during setup) end up with a winter league with mostly fictional players. I went ahead and played a season, and it was more enjoyable than I expected. But I haven’t been tempted to go back to it. I just enjoy the real-world challenges, including historical play and what-ifs, as with the color bar and the Federal League. Real guys. License needed. End of story.

[Pelican]

There are lots of reasons to criticize MLB and the Players’ Association (ghost runners, three-batter minimum, no salary cap, ineffective revenue sharing, ticket prices) but requiring a license to use the league and players’ names, images, likenesses, stats in a for-profit venture is fair. They’ve created a commodity and deserve to profit of it, including license fees.

But by the same logic there is no legal basis (and no logic) for MLB or MLBPA to try and prevent “modding” of players - so long as no one is trying to profit off that effort. OOTP can’t be held responsible, simply because the game includes a way to create players. It’s the same as if OOTP sold a game, as some apparently want, that only had fictional players. They owe MLB and MLBPA nothing, because they haven’t “appropriated” anything. And all of us using those tools to create players are beyond the reach of MLB and their lawyers.

It’s not wrong for MLB and MLBPA to want to have some control over how the game is portrayed in the world of commerce. They have a “brand” and the right to protect it, at least where others seek to profit off of that brand. Presumably they can reach a fee arrangement that is reasonable, and recognizes that the games also promote the sport. My kids learned NFL mostly through Madden, and MLB mostly through APBA. That free advertising and exposure should cause the leagues to be reasonable about the fees they charge.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

I honestly think any loss of the license would come with a posting that states "Com2uS asked us to remove all the data concerning this unlicensed league from OOTP. Please do not post any mods which contain official artwork or data on this forum."

Exactly the reason why I said maybe... no way the MLB / MLBPA would let it slip again now that they know the game exist since they have an agreement with OOTP. Let's be honest if you are a niche game this is quite easy to stay under the radar of the big guys.


If that happen one day I will certainly not buy blind release day as I usually do... I would wait to see if modding the game is always a thing (no way the Korean company who owns the game now would play a game of hide and seek with the MLB).

[Simul Justus et Peccator]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

Yep... I play fictional leagues... if I wanted to play MLB players I would create them and manually put their real ratings in using Baseball-Reference stats.
I did this years ago with my MLB All-time League... 16 original franchises... used their top player at each position for active roster... used the remaining best players on the reserve roster... this was in the early days of OOTP 3... it worked very well and the players performed pretty much to their ratings, but there were some outliers... Tom Seaver 7-20 with a 5.00 ERA... a few position players did not hit well and were disappointments.

If they continued to work and improve 3D animation, I will buy it each year

With or without MLB, it still a great game.

I am probably in a very, very small minority... I would think most gamers use real players and would no longer purchase the game..

Eugene, I usually want everything to be as authentic as possible to include buying official team hats and jerseys. When I first started playing OOTP, I wanted everything authentic, but after seeing so many awesome user created logos, I'm leaning now towards fictional since there are so many possibilities.

I agree with you that if there was no more license, I too would recreate real life players.

[PSUColonel]

I would be willing to use fictional players….but NOT fictional teams’ or leagues’.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

We had no license for years and it was fine. As long as the ability to mod the game exists then it’s no skin off my back.

But we don't. Remember were handcuffed on editing

[ashantewarrier]

Yes, I would. I’m an OG player and have been playing OOTP since 2003 before licensing. I prefer to play with fictional anyway.


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[Guthrien]

I'm kind of surprised so many play only fictional leagues, but on deeper thought I don't know why. To an early reply, by a certain time the whole league is fictional but it still lacks the continuity of "history" that I enjoy. I would buy it, but I'd feel no deep desire to upgrade it.

I've never booted up PT in the many, many years I've bought the game so I'm not their primary customer anymore is probably the ugly truth. IDK what that revenue makes up for the current incarnation of the company but everyone implies it's what matters. If that's true, the license loss would mean the game likely wouldn't be developed as it is.

[itsmb8]

Easy answer.

If they lost the MLB license and handled the MLB the way they handled the ***, then absolutely not.

Otherwise yes, because I would just carry over my save through the versions.

If I needed to start a new save though, probably not, unless someone created a full MLB mod.

[majesty95]

Yes. I think the license is money better spent on development but there may be other factors we’re not aware of.