PS4 - Playstation 4

Just months after one of their cover stars, Patrick Kane, was arrested and charged with theft, assault, and mischief, the curse that has long plagued many EA cover athletes reached a new level, as longtime PGA Tour series cover boy and cash-cow Tiger Woods has landed in scalding water over allegations of his extramarital activities, becoming the talk of the internet and gossip world in the process. The number of women coming forward is probably a little scary for Tiger aka Cheatah Woods. Get it? Ok anyway...

Tiger Woods is not only a golfing star and icon, but has a large presence in the video game world as well, so the whole controversy surrounding the accident at his house, and now his admission of transgressions, has some significance to video game fans, as well as gossip hounds.

As details surrounding the case quickly leaked out, becoming more and more sordid with each passing day, many began to question where Tiger’s many sponsors (the company’s largely responsible for making him a billionaire) would stand on the issue. The early response has been unanimously in favour of the 14-time golf major champion winner, though it remains to be seen just how far their loyalty will stretch if the case continues to get more and more steamy.

On the video gaming front, Electronic Arts announced that they have no intention of severing ties with Tiger, which is hardly surprising from a financial point of view. EA currently has an online Tiger Woods game in development, as well as the 2011 versions of the long-running franchise, which sold over a million copies across all platforms in North America alone last year.

While removing Tiger from the games would not be difficult from a development point of view, there’s no doubt that the products would take a serious hit in their marketability and mass appeal if Woods were to be removed as the face of the series, to be replaced by another, such as Phil Mickelson, or for the series to revert back to the pre-Tiger PGA games headed by ensemble casts, the more likely outcome.

The question is, should EA, or any other company for that matter, remove their sponsorship of Tiger Woods over this scandal? There’s certainly no universal answer, and it largely depends on the company themselves, and the image they wish to convey, or brand they hope to promote. While known infidelity is certainly not desirable in a spokesperson, it’s also by no means impossible to overcome in the public view (one need only look at Bill Clinton, who arguably became even more popular after his well documented tryst with Monica Lewinsky).

Whether it’s because infidelity is still considered a largely private matter that should never be brought into the public forum in the first place, or simply the fact that sexual indiscretions are rather commonplace in society as a whole and not particularly shocking, early polls have shown that less than a third of respondents view Tiger in a more negative light.

The most important thing at this point it would seem is for Tiger to come clean and get it all out in the open so people can come to grips with it and move on. His first statement was to flatly deny the allegations, which may in hindsight damage his reputation more than the actual allegations themselves. Admitting one’s mistakes and moving on seems to resonate well with the general public.

Let’s face it, we’re all human. People want to talk about values and ideals, and say Tiger has betrayed those ideals he has claimed to promote, but this is subjective. You can stand for ideals and values, even though you may not be strong enough to uphold them. None of us is perfect, despite our best intentions, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop striving towards or promoting those ideals.

Regardless, Tiger’s current foray into the bunkers of the gossip world should not have an impact on his future in the video game world. Expect to see Tiger gracing the PS3 for years to come, and the PlayStation 4 in the not so distant future.