The “Tiger Woods” name will not appear in the title of EA Sports’ next-gen golf games.
The publisher revealed that it came to a “mutual decision” with golfer Tiger Woods to end the long-running partnership. This means EA Sports’ future PGA Tour golf games will no longer feature Woods on the cover of in the name.
“We’ve always been big fans of Tiger, and we wish him continue success in all his future endeavors,” EA Sports general manager of golf Daryl Holt wrote in a blog on EA’s website. “Moving forward, we will continue to work with the PGA Tour exclusively to create groundbreaking golfing titles and our partnership remains strong.”
EA Sports will maintain the PGA Tour license and real-world golf courses for its next-gen golf games.
As part of this announcement, the publisher revealed a comparison between a screenshot of its next-gen and current-gen golf games. Check it out below:
EA did not reveal what it will call the next-gen links game.
Woods and EA first teamed up in 1998 for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 99, which the company debuted for PC and PlayStation. Most recently, EA released Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 this year for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
In 2009, a scandal involving Woods’ marital infidelities caused a backlash against the golfer. He admitted cheating on his wife, and many of his sponsors quickly pulled out their support. AT&T, Gatorade, and General Motors were among the companies to end their relationships with Woods.
EA Sports and Nike were among the few corporations to continue their deals with Woods.
Following the 2009 scandals and a car accident he sustained after an argument with his then wife (Elin Nordegren divorced Tigers Woods in 2010), Woods struggled with his game. The long-time world No. 1 golfer fell to a low of No. 58 in 2011 and battled with injuries.
He returned to form in 2013 by winning five tournaments during the season. He is currently once again ranked No. 1 in the world.
Regardless of his return to the top, however, Woods image has never fully recovered. It’s likely that EA Sports realized that Woods’ name was no longer moving any extra copies of its golf game, and it realized it could save some money.