EA sued for $27 million due to exclusive football licenses.

[kupomogli]

I won't say I know anything about the details of the lawsuit other than what is shown here, but it was brought up in another topic that the NFL wanted a single developer handling their football games and EA was the highest bidder. The lawsuit states that they're charging twice as much because there's no other competition, and this is when all NFL games have been your standard MSRP and tend to drop in price pretty fast. The double the price is probably a reference to the NFL 2K5 starting at the price of $19.99.

For five years from now, EA won't be able to enter any contractual agreement with either the NFL, AFL, or NCAA, all of which is owned by the NFL. The only thing that I would think would apply is the NCAA games, as NFL just recently merged with them. Honestly, though. If it wasn't for the NFL wanting a single developer creating their games, for NFL atleast, this lawsuit would have never happened.

If you ask me, the lawsuit is because of butt hurt individuals jealous that EA is making money with the exclusive deal by releasing the same game every year and getting away with it. On the other hand, one good thing comes out of this is there is now the chance of seeing an NFL Gameday from Sony. If it's comparable in both graphics and gameplay that MLB The Show has shown to have over the competition, then we might be seeing the next best football game. This is also based on NFL 98 being one of the better football games I've played.

http://www.hbsslaw.com/cases-and-investigations/maddennfl

http://terminalgamer.com/2012/07/20/27-million-settlement-announced-in-ea-madden-price-fixing-lawsuit/

[Gamevet]

The original NFL Gameday was the best of the bunch. The series pretty much sucked on the PS2.

[Richie]

I assure you the NFL doesn't own the NCAA. Or the AFL.

[skaar]

I assure you the NFL doesn't own the NCAA. Or the AFL.

kupo doesn't fact check, he just rants.

He's like the DP Rush Limbaugh for Sony.

[Porksta]

This also is not what happened. EA settled for $27 million and will no longer have exclusive NCAA rights.

[buzz_n64]

All this means nothing to me except I wouldn't mind a new NFL Blitz game.

[kupomogli]

I assure you the NFL doesn't own the NCAA. Or the AFL.

I said it, and that means it came from the internet. It must be true.

But yeah. I don't really watch football. It's usually on at work and for me it's just background noise, but somewhere in there I've heard NFL, NCAA, AFL, and merger. Anyways, it doesn't matter.


kupo doesn't fact check, he just rants.

He's like the DP Rush Limbaugh for Sony.

Football is like life and I know life.

[thetoxicone]

All this means nothing to me except I wouldn't mind a new NFL Blitz game.

There is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Blitz_%282012_video_game%29

[BetaWolf47]

I'm glad this happened. Despite it not being EA's choice, the exclusivity has given them the power to set their own price. The price tag for Battlefield 4 has me worried they may try the same thing on other franchises.

There is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Blitz_%282012_video_game%29
Developed and published by EA :(

[thetoxicone]

I'm glad this happened. Despite it not being EA's choice, the exclusivity has given them the power to set their own price. The price tag for Battlefield 4 has me worried they may try the same thing on other franchises.

Developed and published by EA :(

I know but midway isn't really around to make it

[Griking]

So someone sues because EA had an exclusive license to NFL games and as a result EA can no longer hold an exclusive license to NCAA football games?

What am I missing here?

Also why would customers who purchased a last gen NFL game get more of a refund than people who purchased on for the current gen of consoles?

[kupomogli]

^I guess I should have posted in more detail. They were sued based on exclusivity of all three. NFL, AFL, and NCAA.

[BydoEmpire]

...the NFL wanted a single developer handling their football games and EA was the highest bidderFYI, EA wasn't the highest bidder, but the NFL deemed them the best partner due to their longstanding track record and ability to develop additional products.

[Bojay1997]

^I guess I should have posted in more detail. They were sued based on exclusivity of all three. NFL, AFL, and NCAA.

That's also not accurate. The lawsuit isn't about the legality of exclusivity deals as those have been repeatedly upheld by the courts. Every major sport has such deals in place with all sorts of vendors from television networks to logo product producers. The lawsuit is a consumer protection/anti-trust claim based on the argument that these deals with EA caused pricing for the games to be higher than they otherwise would have been had either multiple companies been permitted to produce licensed games or EA engaged in different sales and marketing behavior in connection with the games.

[kupomogli]

The lawsuit is a consumer protection/anti-trust claim based on the argument that these deals with EA caused pricing for the games to be higher than they otherwise would have been had either multiple companies been permitted to produce licensed games or EA engaged in different sales and marketing behavior in connection with the games.

Which is because of the exclusivity. This should have also been thrown out. There's no evidence every sports game would have had decreased prices. 2K Games later released All Star Football 2K8 and it was $59.99. Or every other sports game they've released aside from NFL 2K were all $49.99 or $59.99. Btw. It's been less than a year and you can purchase Madden 2012 for $20, $10 at Best Buy.

[Ryudo]

Bring back ESPN 2K NFL games

[Bojay1997]

Again, completely incorrect. The claims aren't that exclusivity in and of itself creates the pricing concern. Every league has exclusive deals with multiple companies for exclusives on different types of licensed merchandise. Is it possible that the claim would have been thrown out if EA was not the only licensee for video games and EA argued that fact? Perhaps, but the court is not saying that exclusiviity even in games is inherently illegal or anti-competitive, only that how EA handled the pricing was done in a way that violated various anti-trust laws. The fact that last season's games are discounted 6-8 months after release is not really relevant in any way.


Which is because of the exclusivity. This should have also been thrown out. There's no evidence every sports game would have had decreased prices. 2K Games later released All Star Football 2K8 and it was $59.99. Or every other sports game they've released aside from NFL 2K were all $49.99 or $59.99. Btw. It's been less than a year and you can purchase Madden 2012 for $20, $10 at Best Buy.

[BHvrd]

Bring back ESPN 2K NFL games

We can only hope...

[eggwolio]

How is it that Atari releases Backyard Football games with the NFL license when EA has exclusivity?

[gepeto]

Gameday 98 was awesome in so many ways what a year but in the end madden 98 was the definitive winner in pure gameplaydept. They spent the majority of the disc space or so they say on the defense. lol