What comes as maybe a mild surprise to the gaming world, EA Sports has announced that their partnership with PGA Tour professional, Tiger Woods, has come to an end. Coming from EA's representatives, it seems that the move was mutual.
"EA Sports and Tiger Woods have made a mutual decision to end our partnership, which includes Tiger's named PGA Tour golf game. We've always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors."
This comes as a curious move for the publishing giant. There hasn't been much in the way of positive news for the Redwood City, California-based company whose famed EA Sports division is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Marred by litigations involving two of their most popular franchises in Madden and NCAA Football that has seen what is possibly the end of the college football franchise and coupled with the layoffs of employees earlier this year, it seems to be such a curious move at this time. Perhaps there were issues with with the endorsement agreement, perhaps it truly was a joint decision.
The good news, however, is that EA Sports is not finished making PGA Tour games. While fans have been clamoring for more customization and options with the golf franchise, perhaps this was their way of creating those options by fully eliminating the partnership and being tied to one golfer. Either way, this marks the end of the fifteen year partnership between Tiger and EA, and it will still look a little strange to see PGA Tour on an EA Sports game without Tiger's name on it as well.
