Tiger Woods’ relationship with EA Sports survived his cheating scandal, but apparently it couldn’t survive sagging sales, as the company announced Monday that it had ended its relationship with the world’s No. 1 golfer.
“EA SPORTS and Tiger Woods have … made a mutual decision to end our partnership, which includes Tiger's named PGA TOUR golf game," the company said in a release announcing the details of its new next-gen golf game. "We’ve always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors.”
Earlier this year, video game blog Kotaku reported that Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘15 would not be produced on any platform — but the move was viewed as a hiatus in response to across-the-board layoffs, rather than a discontinuation of the series. Monday’s release confirms that Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘14 will be the last in a series that launched back in 1999.
According to the video game sales database at VGChartz.com, the PS3 version of Tiger Woods ‘14 sold just 160,000 copies worldwide, down from 390,000 copies of last year’s game and 810,000 copies of the 2012 edition. The XBox 360 edition saw a similar decline, with sales dropping from a reported 430,000 last year to 160,000 this year.
It’s not known exactly what role the sales played in the termination of EA’s deal with Tiger. It’s also unclear whether the game’s next release will be branded with another player’s name or which player’s likeness, if any, might be included on the cover. An email requesting comment from Daryl Holt, EA Sports' VP and GM of golf, was not immediately returned.
But if EA really gets in a pickle, there’s always this fallback, which I hear is a smash with the kids:
