PGA Tour (video game series)
PGA Tour is a series of golf video games developed and published by Electronic Arts and later their EA Sports sub-label since 1990, the series primarily features courses featured on the U.S. PGA Tour, and other notable courses.
In 1998, EA began publishing their golf games with the endorsement of Tiger Woods. Following the Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf release, subsequent titles were named Tiger Woods PGA Tour and released yearly.
Although EA Sports developed most games in the series internally, some SKUs have come from outside developers including the first edition, Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf, which Adrenalin Entertainment developed in conjunction with EA for the PlayStation and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 for the PlayStation, which was developed by Stormfront Studios. IOMO also produced versions of the game for mobile phones for the 2002, 2004, and 2005 editions.
In October 2013, EA ended its relationship with Woods, being replaced with Rory McIlroy, then top golfer in the world, who became the new title athlete of the franchise, known as Rory McIlroy PGA Tour.
The series was responsible for several innovations in the genre, such as the now standard three-click swing method. In 1995 a critic stated in GamePro that "The PGA series flies high above the rest for two reasons: You can completely control a shot, and you play on the best courses around." However, unlike other games in the EA Sports label, the series was often shadowed by other competitors such as the Jack Nicklaus series, Links series, Microsoft Golf or The Golf Pro.
PGA Tour has brought in almost $771 million since it began in 1999.
History
Starting in 1998, Tiger Woods was the star and face of the series. The deal with Woods was worth $6.2 to 7 million a year at the height of his 15 years at EA Sports.That's according to Kotaku sources, Electronic Arts reportedly planned to outsource Tiger Woods PGA Tour 15 and give the in-house team at EA Tiburon two years to make Tiger Woods PGA Tour 16 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. However, when CEO John Riccitiello resigned March 2013, this plan was dropped to save costs, the sources said.
On October 2013, EA's partnership with Woods and a licensing agreement with Augusta National Golf Club reached an end. According to EA, the split is a mutual decision.
The agreement with HB Studios comes after a similar long-term licensing agreement between the PGA Tour and Electronic Arts came to an end. EA had dominated electronic golf games thanks to a partnership with 15-time major tournament winner Tiger Woods. From 1999-2013 Tiger Woods PGA Tour was the top video golf game on the market. After EA and Woods ended their agreement in 2013, EA developed a similar game in 2015 in a partnership with Rory McIlroy. Rory McIlroy PGA Tour did not fare nearly as well as the previous EA versions featuring Woods. The game was pulled from all digital storefronts in May 2018.
EA has relinquished its deal with the PGA Tour in what appears to be a move away from golf games. PGA Tour licensing director Matt Iofredo said the new partnership with HB Studios is part of the sport's on-going efforts to introduce golf to a wider audience.
Games
''PGA Tour Golf'' (1990)
Information needed''PGA Tour Golf II'' (1992)
Information needed''PGA Tour Golf III'' (1994)
Information needed''PGA Tour 96'' (1995)
Information needed''PGA Tour 97'' (1996)
Information needed''PGA Tour 98'' (1997)
Information neededTimeline of console and release year in the title of the game
''Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf'' (1998)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2000'' (1999)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001'' (2000)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002'' (2002)
Developed by Headgate Studios for the Microsoft Windows, EA Redwood Studios for the PlayStation 2 version and Rebellion Developments for the Game Boy Advance version and published by EA Sports for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance in 2002.The PC and PlayStation 2 versions received "favorable" reviews, while the Game Boy Advance version received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.
''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003'' (2002)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004'' (2003)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005'' (2004)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06'' (2005)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07'' (2006)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08'' (2007)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09'' (2008)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10'' (2009)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11'' (2010)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12'' (2011)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13'' (2012)
Information needed''Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14'' (2013)
Information needed''Rory McIlroy PGA Tour'' (2015)
Information neededOther titles
''PGA European Tour'' (1994)
Developed and published by Electronic Arts for the Amiga, Sega Genesis, and Amiga CD32 in 1994, for the Game Boy in 1995, and for the SNES in 1996. The SNES version supports the TeeV Golf club peripheral.GamePro gave the Game Boy version a rave review, saying that it "delivers almost everything that made its 16-bit relative the best." They applauded the selection of courses, effective controls, strong realism, and the graphics, going so far as to state that when played on the Super Game Boy the game looks "almost as good as the Genesis version."
''PGA Tour Pro'' (1997)
Developed by EA Sports and published by Electronic Arts for Windows PC in 1997.The game received a score of 5.8 from GameSpot.
''Tiger Woods PGA Tour'' a.k.a. ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour Mobile'' (2009)
Developed by Exient Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports branding on April 23, 2009 for iOS. The game features commentary by Sam Torrance and Kelly Tilghman. The game offers five golfers: Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Annika Sörenstam, and Natalie Gulbis. For courses, it has Pebble Beach Golf Links, Old Course at St Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, The K Club, Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Fancourt Links, and TPC Boston.''Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online'' (2010)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online was an online streaming version of the Tiger Woods franchise.Players took part in single player modes or in tournaments. Tournaments were split into weekly and daily competitions, sometimes based on events then happening in the PGA Tour. For example, during the US Open, the courses that have had the US Open had a discount on points.
Players chose between monthly and yearly subscriptions with unlimited access, or chose to pay for individual rounds through microtransactions. Players who didn't subscribe were still allowed to compete, although they were usually allowed to play only one or two rounds each day.
On September 6, 2011, it became integrated with the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 PC version. EA Sports retired Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online on July 6, 2013.