EA Sports PGA Tour and the LIV Shadow

Launcher published a story today discussing some of the LIV Golf questions that EA might have to dance around as EA Sports PGA Tour nears launch. In Mike Hume’s story, he talks to folks from EA who said nothing on the development front has been impacted by this feud between the rival golf organizations — at least so far. In addition, LIV was already a thing when PGA Tour 2K23 was released, and it did not seem to cause too much stress on that front either.

However, LIV is still picking up steam at this point with a TV deal being inked this week and 14 tournaments planned for its second season. Sidestepping the questions about LIV Golf and its funding for now, it is worth considering if the organization could impact EA Sports PGA Tour (and maybe even PGA Tour 2K23) in the months ahead.

EA Sports PGA Tour And The LIV Shadow

The only way to play as me, and my friends, is in PGA TOUR 2K23, available now. #team2k pic.twitter.com/5lwCJ73o4v

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 20, 2023

While there will also be a battle between EA and 2K, the PGA relationship seems stable enough that golfers can go between those games. Tony Finau has already been confirmed for EA Sports PGA Tour, and he’s also in PGA Tour 2K23. The selling point of EA Sports PGA Tour is having all four of the majors and their courses, and those are not in PGA Tour 2K23. That said, some of the TPC courses (and Pebble Beach) will be present in both games. In other words, while exclusives will be a thing with these two games, PGA seems fine with both these companies battling over PGA licensing.

This is obviously not the case with LIV. Neither game seems very interested in disrupting the relationship with the PGA by pursuing anything with LIV, so could that impact either game? At this point, I would guess it will just impact the games around the margins. Bubba Watson is in PGA Tour 2K23 even though he did jump to LIV. He jumped to LIV in the summer and PGA Tour 2K23 came out in October so the PGA could have stepped in and put pressure on 2K to not put Watson in the final release. This did not happen — at least not publicly.

That said, I would not expect Bubba Watson to be in EA Sports PGA Tour. It might be a situation where any contract already signed with a pro will be honored, but PGA more or less says “hey, just don’t do anything else with them from here on out.” I would guess the same goes for courses.

The Launcher article also points out how maybe certain pros won’t be on the leaderboards during some of these tournaments, and that’s maybe something around the margins that could be impacted here. However, it seems like EA Sports PGA Tour will have more of a focus on having other pros playing with you during rounds (at least in comparison to PGA Tour 2K), so I’m not sure how many pros they don’t have licenses for will even be on those leaderboards in something like career mode.

The other component here would maybe be commentators. It would be awkward if one of those names jumped ship to LIV. PGA asking for a commentator to be removed could cause even more issues than a golf course or a pro, so I’m sure EA is hoping to avoid that hassle. Regardless, while we have seen some content stripped from sports games after launch, it usually is not due to complaints made by an organization like the PGA — again, at least not in a direct way. Instead, it’s due to much more serious matters like criminal charges or something that feels out of place in light of current events.

So for gamers out there, I don’t think there is too much to worry about right now as it relates to the PGA vs. LIV battle. Instead, I do think more people will be focused on how deep the creation suite is in EA Sports PGA Tour and if we will have the ability to create courses in the upcoming EA golf game.