The Sega Genesis and EA Sports line enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Without the strong sports library the Genesis would have gone the way of the TG-16. Without the Sega Genesis EA Sports may not exist today. In the late 80s Electronic Arts wanted to enter the console game market. However, they found Nintendo's licensing terms too restrictive and opted to develop for the Genesis.
Sega conceded to some of EA's requests such as allowing them to manufacture their own cartridges and packaging. The EA Sports division became a game publishing powerhouse. Nintendo would ultimately loosen their licensing policies allowing EA to develop for the SNES. However, without the Genesis there's a good chance EA would have abandoned all thoughts developing for game consoles. How did EA ultimately thank Sega for this? By acquiring exclusive rights to nearly every sports league, thereby destroying the entire Sega Sports division.
It was only fitting in this way that EA published the last three licensed Genesis games. John Madden Football '98, NBA Live '98, and NHL '98 all hit the stores in the early fall of 1997. I'm sure it wasn't a great effort for them. Take the '97 version, update the rosters, add a few bells 'n whistles, bam! '98 version complete. OK, I'm sure I'm oversimplifying the development process but not by much.
My only complaint about these three games is that you have to go through 87 menu screens before you can play. To this day they can't seem to merge "select team" and "select which player controls which team" into a single menu.
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