''PGA Tour'' is a series of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

s developed and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...

- and later their

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

sub-label - since 1990. The series primarily features courses featured on the U.S.

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, and other notable courses (such as those that have hosted majors). In 1998, EA began publishing their golf games with the endorsement of

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

. 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 is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

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 Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who is a member of both the European and PGA Tours. He is the current world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, and has spent over 100 weeks in ...

, 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 Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally ...

'' 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 its creation in 1999 to 2013.

History

Starting in 1998,

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

. According to

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. Histor ...

sources,

reportedly planned to outsource Tiger Woods PGA Tour 15 and give the in-house team at

EA Tiburon EA Tiburon is an Electronic Arts video game development studio located in Orlando, Florida, United States founded in 1994. It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by EA in 1998. EA had already purchased a minority ...

two years to make Tiger Woods PGA Tour 16 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. However, when CEO

John Riccitiello John Riccitiello () is an American business executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of Unity Technologies. Previously, he served as CEO, chief operating officer and president of Electronic Arts, and co-founded private equity firm Elevat ...

resigned March 2013, this plan was dropped to save costs. In October 2013, EA's partnership with Woods and a licensing agreement with

Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. Unlike most private clubs which operate as non-profits, Augusta National is a for-profit corporation, and it does ...

reached an end. According to EA, the split is a mutual decision. The agreement with

HB Studios HB Studios Multimedia Limited is a Canadian video game developer based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is best known for its rugby and cricket games. History HB Studios was founded in early July 2000 by Jeremy Wellard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. ...

comes after a similar long-term licensing agreement between the

and

came to an end. EA had dominated electronic golf games thanks to a partnership with 15-time major tournament winner Tiger Woods. From 1999 to 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 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. In September 2018, EA relinquished its agreement with the

in what appears to be a move away from golf games. In August 2018, ''PGA Tour'' licensing director Matt Iofredo said the new partnership with

is part of the sport's on-going efforts to introduce golf to a wider audience. On March 29, 2021, EA announced that a new next-gen golf video game, currently in development on the

Frostbite (game engine) Frostbite is a game engine developed by DICE, designed for cross-platform use on Microsoft Windows, seventh generation game consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, eighth generation game consoles PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch an ...

under the name of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, will take advantage of next-gen technology. This will be through a new long-term agreement signed this year with the PGA TOUR. EA announced on April 7, 2021, a day before the 2021 Masters, that the Masters and its home, Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, will be playable exclusively in EA Sports PGA Tour. It will be released under the name ''EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters'' and along with the Masters event, EA Sports PGA Tour will feature the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, making it the only video game to feature all four major men's professional golf tournaments. EA Sports is returning to the golf market to compete with the PGA Tour 2K franchise from 2K Sports. The 2020 PGA Tour 2K21 featured 15 real-world courses, some of which had already hosted major tournaments. But 2K didn't have the rights to the names of the actual major tournaments. This led EA to announce that they had captured the course and traditions of the Masters", having made their first-ever "aerial sweep of its kind to collect millions of data points, previously unavailable in golf games, to authentically recreate Augusta National in the game". (Presumably, this is an improvement over the old technique - when EA announced in 2011 that it was putting Augusta National in its game for the first time, it was using "state-of-the-art laser scanning technology.") It's not yet known if EA is using the same air-scanning technology for the game's other licensed courses. On May 17, 2021 Electronic Arts announced that EA Sports PGA Tour would be relaunched in the spring of 2022, around the next Masters tournament which will take place from April 4 to 10, 2022. On November 3, 2021, Electronic Arts announced that the launch date for EA Sports PGA Tour would be shifted and more plans for the release date would be shared in the coming months. On March 22, 2022 Electronic Arts announced the delay of EA Sports PGA Tour by one year to spring 2023. EA did not give a reason for the delay, nor did they announce the game's platforms.

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 needed''

Timeline of console and release year in the title of the game

* The year in the title of the game, not the year of release.

''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'' (2001)

''Information needed''

''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 needed''

Other titles

''PGA European Tour'' (1994)

Developed and published by Electronic Arts for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, and

Amiga CD32 The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32, code-named "Spellbound") is a 32-bit home video game console developed by Commodore and released in Europe, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London on July 16, ...

in 1994, for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

in 1995, and for the

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eu ...

and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...

in 1996. The SNES version supports the TeeV Golf club peripheral. ''

'' 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

and published by Electronic Arts for Windows PC in 1997. The game received a score of 5.8 ("mediocre") from

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''Tiger Woods PGA Tour'' a.k.a. ''Tiger Woods PGA Tour Mobile'' (2009)

Developed by

Exient Entertainment Exient Entertainment (also known as Exient Company) is an independent video game developer based in Oxford, United Kingdom with additional development studios in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom, and Malta. Mainly developing for handheld gaming sys ...

and published by

under the

branding on April 23, 2009 for iOS. The game features commentary by

Sam Torrance Samuel Robert Torrance (born 24 August 1953) is a Scottish professional golfer and sports commentator. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins. Torrance was a member of Eur ...

and

Kelly Tilghman Kelly Tilghman (born August 6, 1969, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) is a former broadcaster for Golf Channel, and NBC Sports, and is the PGA Tour's first female lead golf announcer. On July 29, 2020, it was announced that Tilghman was hired by ...

. The game offers five golfers:

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijians, Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three Men's major golf championships, major championsh ...

Retief Goosen Retief Goosen (born 3 February 1969) is a South African professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He has won two U.S. Opens, in 2001 and 2004, headed the European Tour Order of Merit in 2001 and 2002, and was in the top ten of th ...

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 intern ...

, and

Natalie Gulbis Natalie Anne Gulbis (born January 7, 1983) is an American professional golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. Golf career Gulbis was born and raised in the Sacramento, California, area. She has Latvian ancestry. Gulbis started finding in ...

. For courses, it has Pebble Beach Golf Links,

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

TPC Sawgrass The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass (TPC at Sawgrass) is a golf course in the southeastern United States, located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, southeast of Jacksonville. Opened in the autumn of 1980, it was the first of several Tournament ...

The K Club The Kildare Hotel and Golf Club (abbreviated The K Club) is a golf and leisure complex in the Republic of Ireland, located at Straffan, County Kildare. It is built on the original grounds of the Straffan estate, incorporating the 1830s Straffan ...

Doral Golf Resort & Spa Trump National Doral Miami is a golf resort in Doral in South Florida in the United States. It was founded by real estate pioneer Alfred Kaskel in 1962, with the name "Doral" coming from an amalgamation of the first names of Kaskel and his wife ...

, Fancourt Links, and TPC Boston.

''Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online'' (2010)

''Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online'' was an online streaming version of the

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.

Notes

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:PGA Tour Electronic Arts franchises EA Sports games Golf video games Tiger Woods Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1990