Its sad really. Exclusivity like this does nobody any favours. Look at Sony's F1 games. Since being completely Sony exclusive, they've been pretty lame.
To people making comments like 'VC should just make a kick-ass football game' - its too later. In the olden days it might have worked. Change a couple of letters in the surname, and you're good to go.
But now - and especially with the next-gen - its the whole package. Players will look like the real players, stadiums will look like the real stadiums. So VC will have to make a kick-ass football game where the names are different, the players don't bear any resemblance to the real ones (or get sued), and the stadia are different. I don't see consumers buying that.
Pro Evo was a hard sell, and I honestly don't know if they'd be competing strongly in Europe with FIFA if they hadn't got some licensing deals in place. Reading some of the comments on here shows that real stats matter.
Major sports should be protected. In the UK, Sky pays a shitload of money for Premiership soccer rights. But the government/FA does not allow them exclusive access - there has to be at least highlights available to free-to-view TV. They understand that some people cannot afford pay-TV, and it is important to keep the game viewable to all people, for the long-term future of the game.