Less than two years after ending its 15-year relationship with Tiger Woods, EA Sports announced on Monday that Rory McIlroy will become the new name and face of its next series of golf games.
The golf game — EA SPORTS Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR — will be EA Sports’ first since 2013 and is expected to be released in early June. Despite the game being Tiger-less for the first time since 1998, EA is hoping to fill the void by offering users more diverse playing options, and with Rory as its new figurehead, re-energize a franchise that will hopefully draw a new audience.
«When you grow up playing golf you never really dream of being a character in a video game, let alone the guy on the box,» McIlroy told GolfDigest.com. «The technology powering the game is incredible. The courses are absolutely gorgeous, and looking at screenshots from the game you think someone just took a photo of the actual holes.»
And it turns out, Rory is quite the gamer himself:
«My first system was the original PlayStation, which I got back when I was a kid,» he said. «I’ll still jump into a FIFA match with a buddy every so often, and if a bunch of us want to play we’ll start up a round of EA SPORTS PGA TOUR. I think games are a great way to spend a couple hours if you’ve got downtime and just want to relax for a bit.»
Here are some more images of the new game as provided by EA Sports:
Rory McIlroy supplants Tiger Woods once again, is officially the new face of EA Sports’ golf game