Finally…the class action lawsuit everyone has been waiting for!

by pastapadre
Posted June 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

So it turns out all the threats over the years around suing EA over the exclusive NFL license have finally materialized in a futile, and somewhat laughable, class action suit filed last week. You can read it in PDF form here thanks to TMZ.

The suit alleges that EA Sports has an “unlawful and anticompetitive series of exclusive agreements” with the NFL, NCAA, and Arena Football. Such has driven companies like Take-Two out of the football market and prevented others from entering it.

The claim is also made that because of the licensing deals the prices of games have risen. Apparently Madden sold for $29.99 before the exclusive license but now goes for $49.99. That’s a 70% price hike! And this seems to be the main basis of the claim. It’s the “NFL 2K5 was better” argument, and makes the assumption that the series would’ve stayed at $20 and Madden would’ve lowered its prices as well from then on.

Of course this has no chance of success, as the NFL has the right to use their license however they wish, and exclusivity deals are nothing new for them. A monopoly does not apply as anyone can make a football game (see All-Pro Football, Blitz the League, Tecmo Bowl, and Backbreaker) however they in no way can make claim to having a right to the NFL license.

Tags:

kbshowtyme

Kfox every game isn’t for everybody I hated APF 2k8…..do you know of any good lawyers I can use? I just want to make a point to Take Two since thats the new trend.
Hater

EA has done nothing wrong. NFL chose to give them the license and 2K had the same opportunity as EA but didn’t have the cash.

Don’t hate the playa…hate the game
r

Someone asked why everyone thinks EA is a bad company. Here is why. In the american spirit of buisness and capitalism the beating heart is competition. Without true compitition there is a socialistic market model whick is never good for the consumer. Competiotionn weeds out the bad and underperforming companies aand reinforres those that make the best decisions and deliver to the people what they want. By EA and The NFL ( Not the most upstanding companies in the world) hashing out this deal just smells foul…They act like they didn’t want the deal and the NFL twisted their arm into biddibg on exclusivity.. If you believe this shit you are a dumb ass..Truth is EA is a company that uses it’s place as one of the earliest companies on the scene to squash any competition…There games just suck. Only casual gamers and NFL fan’s a.k.a Taco Bell fat ass generation and mindless idiot demographic, you know the ones who buy spider man games and enjoy them…They can’t program anymore so they buy all the good games and ruin them. The truth is visual concepts was kicking there ass in quality and they didn’t want to compete. Shitty companies like Ea should have to compete and they will go away.. If u follow this industry you are aware that no other publisher acts this hostile and shady fuck them