Electronic Arts is many things to many people, but a holder of the Professional Golfers' Association license is not one of them. The news recently went out that Electronic Arts and its subsidiary, EA Sports, no longer has a handle on the PGA license and won't be making PGA games anytime soon.
The PGA Tour has signed a deal with HB Studios Multimedia, where The Golf Club's latest entry in the franchise is set to launch this summer for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Previously, the PGA Tour was licensed under the Electronic Arts brand, where the company would make annual games. For a while EA made games based on Tiger Woods when he was a big shot in golf, and then later switched to back to the PGA Tour titles after the licensing expired with Woods.
This is actually pretty big news, because EA Sports used to publish the PGA Tour Golf games from 1990 up until the turn of the century, when the outfit began publishing the annual Tiger Woods PGA Tour games from the late 1990s up until 2013 (which is a great run for Tiger Woods). The last outing from the company with the PGA Tour license in tow was Rory Mcllroy PGA Tour, which came out several years ago.
Since then, the license lapsed and PGA Tour decided to strike up a deal with the Canadian-based company HB Studios Multimedia.
According to the company's official website, the studio has been around since 2000 and has established partnerships with the NBA, MLB, and now the PGA. The company has been making games since the PlayStation 2, ironically enough, under the EA Sports publishing label. How much of a burn is it that a previous development partner managed to snag a major sporting license right out from under their nose?
According to the press release, CAA Sports Licensing was actually the one who helped PGA Tour broker the new deal with HB Studios.
The company actually has a rather impressive record, having shipped more than 49 titles over the course of the last 18 years, and managed to move a cumulative of 27 million units, which is an impressive feat for an independent company located in Canada.
HB Studios even dabbled in the VR arena with The Golf Club VR for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and now the company is back again with The Golf Club 2019 for home consoles and PC.
The upcoming game features a full PGA Tour Career Mode, spanning multiple tours and cups, along with a new rivalries feature, sponsor goals, and the complete assortment of licensed courses based on real life locations played across the PGA Tour.
Basically, this will continue the tradition of golf games that the company has been making in the past, only this time the games will be made without any involvement from Electronic Arts, and the Professional Golfers' Association and HB Studios will focus on giving gamers a solid gameplay experience whether it's on PC, Xbox One or the PlayStation 4 when The Golf Club 2019 releases this summer.
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