ESPN Series Title Change Confirmed, Not Price Drop

Gamers browsing EBGames.com recieved a shocker today when looking for ESPN’s latest football title. The formerly billed ESPN NFL 2005 for $49.99 just wasn’t there. In its place was a new game with a new price… just $19.95. The game was being sold at the same budget price on GameStop.com, though under its old title.

Visual Concepts’ other “2005” games kept their titles and $49.99 prices on both sites. However, GameSpot confirmed with representatives of Sega-owned Visual Concepts, developer of the games, that all the franchises were reverting back to the old-school “2K” title scheme.

Visual Concepts spokespeople were rather tight-lipped about the apparent price cut of ESPN NFL 2K5. When asked if the new $19.95 price point was accurate, they declined official comment. VC reps also would not comment on whether the price drop was related to the recent announcement that all ESPN titles would be distributed by Global Star Software, Take-Two Interactive’s budget game division. “We’ll have more information soon, though,” promised one rep.