Gamers Sue EA Over Football Game Exclusivity

[Junaid Alam]

Gamers Sue EA Over Football Game Exclusivity

Two gamers are suing Electronic Arts for monopolizing the market on football video games.

The class-action lawsuit, launched by two gamers in Washington, DC, and California last week, alleges that EA is engaging in "blatantly anticompetitive conduct" by raising the price of its football game offerings after securing key licensing deals.

The suit points to EA's decision to pump up the price of its Madden series (pictured) after it signed deals with the NFL, NCAA, and the Arena Football League, following Take-Two's exit from the genre.

It also decries EA's attempted takeover of Take-Two, alleging that it would "remove one of the few companies with the ability and expertise to compete in the market for interactive football software."

The plaintiffs are requesting damages for anyone who purchased an EA football title since August 2005, return of all profits stemming from anticompetitive behavior, and related agreements declared null and void.

EA has not commented on the litigation.

Source: Gamespot.com [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192409.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;2]

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[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Score one for the boys back home. And by that, I mean the gamers. Sure, EA can afford the monetary issue, but this is a huge blow to the Madden series if the lawsuits go through.

 

[Gahars]

Finally something is being done.

Hoorah!

 

[slaygore]

Man why can't Jack Thompson files lawsuits against EA instead of poor old Take-Two and Rockstar. No instead gamers have to do it. Killing people maybe bad, but taking over the world is worst.

 

[agent019]

I actually don't think EA has the monetary backing to refute this litigation. That would mean giving up all Madden profits which are the majority of where the company gets its money from for the past 3 years. I am not 100% sure of the percentage, but I guarantee they wont be trying to buy out Take-Two after that.

 

[Alone Disciple]

I'm rooting for the underdog here, that is the 2 gamers. While I don't think they will go very far in the case, I give them a lot of street credit for their 'balls' if you will.

I'd be very surprised if it did proceed past summary, but it's very intriguing at the least. On the off chnace they do move forward, and win....what exactly will this accomplish in the long run? Seems to me there was something odddly reminscient to MS Browser case a few years back...MS lost....but what did that really mean to everyone else big picture wise? Not much.

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

This article completely threw me off - "But what about Pro Evolution? That's made by Konami, and it's better than any EA football game!" - and then I remembered that the Escapist, despite all of its redeeming qualities, is an American website. :3

 

[nightfish]

This article completely threw me off - "But what about Pro Evolution? That's made by Konami, and it's better than any EA football game!" - and then I remembered that the Escapist, despite all of its redeeming qualities, is an American website. :3

Think they talking about american football here

Good luck to them. Normal people can take on big companies and win. Whats interesting about this is that EA made 'no comment'. Normally big companies love to laugh things like this off i.e. this is a pathetic lawsuit, wont get anywhere etc etc but this time nothing. They may actually be worried.

 

[UpInSmoke]

God, I hate EA. And I'm not even a football fan. They won't be happy till we're all playing nothing but annual shooter & sports franchises w/ the occasional movie tie-in game to shake things up a bit. fuck em.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I don't see this one going to far. I'm no EA fan by any stretch, but negotiating exclusive rights to a franchise is nothing new, and pricing it as they see fit is their business. Wouldn't a more sensible course be to simply not buy it?