ost yesterday's EA-NFL-ownership-fallout Sega and Take-Two respond with a statement:

"Sega has maintained a high level of competition in the football genre by publishing critically-acclaimed sports brands such as ESPN NFL 2K5. The agreement endorsed by EA, the National Football League and PLAYERS INC removes the competitive playing field; limiting creativity and innovation -- two fundamental principles that drive Sega and our industry to produce better games. Sega will continue to publish a diverse portfolio of sports and entertainment content."

Take-Two adds:

"“While sports games in general are an important part of Take-Two's product diversification strategy, the licensed NFL game we distributed on behalf of Sega this year was not a material contributor to our profitability to date, nor was it expected to be a meaningful contributor in the upcoming year.   We remain committed to continued diversification of our product portfolio, including sports.

We believe that the decisions of the National Football League and PLAYERS INC to grant an exclusive license for videogames do a tremendous disservice to the consumers and sports fans whose funds ultimately support the NFL, by limiting their choices, curbing creativity and almost certainly leading to higher game prices.”