Everyone Who Ever Bought a Madden Game is Suing EA
- Thread starter Scott Bullock
- Start date
Has anyone seen the serious football games that come out of non EA developers? They're beyond horrible!
The NFL wouldn't allow their brand to be attached to those games, anyway. EA makes top quality sports games that no other can compare to(and that includes 2K).
The NFL wouldn't allow their brand to be attached to those games, anyway. EA makes top quality sports games that no other can compare to(and that includes 2K).
It's not that it's taken this long, but that it's taken this long to get this far. The damn case was started...what...4-5 years ago?Irridium said:
Edit: Seems it was filed in June '08. I'm honestly shocked it took that long since I remember there being talk about starting a suit when EA got the exclusive rights to the NFL.
They're still overcharging. Sure, $60 is the sweet spot for a mostly original, AAA console game. Unfortunately, Madden hardly qualifies as original.Scott Bullock said:
Think about games like Super Street Fighter 4, or Persona 3 FES. When other companies decide to re-release a game from last year with new characters and extended features, they at least have the decency to reduce the price. A measure of decency that EA lacks.
Hell, I remember over a decade ago, back when the concept of online console gaming was being hyped up, one popular notion was the idea that instead of buying the same sports game at full price year after year, you would simply buy the 'base game' and then download lineup updates year after year.
Of course, this never happened, because half of EA's business model is built on making sure the same idiots end up buying the same game on an annual basis.
The NFL has the right too choose who they want to do business with, and if they want to only work with EA, then they are well within thier rights. EA can charge what they want. No court can force the NFL to work with other companies or how much EA should be charging for the game. I didnt see verizon sue apple or at&t over at&t having the iphone exclusively when they did. This case is just a waaa waaa waaa case that will go nowhere.
All kidding aside, I'm waiting for a class action suit to come about due to that. Price fixing and various "cartel type" behaviors the game industry engages in right now are illegal in the US. A lot of the things it does are the exact same things that have had the federal goverment at war with oil and gas companies for coordinating price hikes and things for years.Dioxide20 said:
Oddly, proving coordination is usually the hard part, however the games industry hasn't even been sneaky about it, and arguably a lot of the things being discussed at meetings like the GDC could probably get just about everyone present arrested. It's just that the goverment has yet to take notice, and nobody has ever really wanted to take the initiative to get that ball rolling.
See, right now the reason why a game that costs $2 million to develop and one that costs $200 million to develop will both retail for $60 is because of a set policy. Nobody lowers the prices, so nobody directly competes by trying to undercut one another, and everyone makes more money. A lot of the arguemnts defending the $60 price tag are made based on the most expensive game development projects, and have little to do with situations where games made on a relatively humble budget cost the same as say a "Call Of Duty".
The point being made here with the NFL is pointing a finger at the industry (or well, EA) for engaging in criminal behaviors. I think even by just acknowledging this class, a snowball has started rolling that could wind up going to some interesting places as it picks up steam.
I know you were joking, and this is a relatively serious answer. Truthfully I've been waiting for the gaming industry to start facing things like this, and said it was going to start years ago.
I'm vaguely reminded of the old situation with Ted Turner many years ago when the guy tried to create a massive media monopoly, nobody ever thought he could be stopped, or even wondered if he was doing anything wrong... but he was indeed stopped once Uncle Sam caught on.
I was gonna comment on why this is a good thing, but I see at least a few people on Page 1 already did that for me, and probably better than I could have. So I'll just say I hope the lawsuit, even if it loses, wakes developers/publishers to the fact that people are slowly coming around and seeing these things for what they are.. and are also slowly becoming more and more capable of not only raising a fuss, but causing these companies to waste money having to defend against such fuss/lawsuits.
On the other hand, I have personally felt we've been overcharged for games a lot the last 5-6 years... many games of today do not reflect, in pricing, what they are in quality or content. As has been said already of the NFL games, it is more like they're taking what they made previously, placing a fresh skin on it all, and changing the rosters around. A lot of games feel like they've not only reskinned older games, but charged full price for it, too.
Well, that and a lot of games being released these days are just crap that we're being charged $60+ for.
EDIT: Props to the guy just above me for actually saying what I ended up saying, arguably better than I did, too.
On the other hand, I have personally felt we've been overcharged for games a lot the last 5-6 years... many games of today do not reflect, in pricing, what they are in quality or content. As has been said already of the NFL games, it is more like they're taking what they made previously, placing a fresh skin on it all, and changing the rosters around. A lot of games feel like they've not only reskinned older games, but charged full price for it, too.
Well, that and a lot of games being released these days are just crap that we're being charged $60+ for.
EDIT: Props to the guy just above me for actually saying what I ended up saying, arguably better than I did, too.
Whilst EA Sports titles are woefully lacking in innovation and really should just be updated via DLC, I wonder if this lawsuit can work. It's essentially saying that a sport cannot license it's names and images out to one company because that would then cause a monopoly.
I'm assuming that sports fans must be incredibly vapid to not buy a sports game because it doesn't have real players in it. Surely you could just make characters look uncannily like real players, give them random names and then add an option to rename them. Then you can go about making a superior product to EA's crap and rake it in.
Or watch it shift nothing because the roster isn't up to date.
I'm assuming that sports fans must be incredibly vapid to not buy a sports game because it doesn't have real players in it. Surely you could just make characters look uncannily like real players, give them random names and then add an option to rename them. Then you can go about making a superior product to EA's crap and rake it in.
Or watch it shift nothing because the roster isn't up to date.
i feel like the fact that madden 11 is still $50 online 8 months after it came out kind of justifies their case a little bitDioxide20 said: