WeVie
04-10-2011, 12:03 PM
Looks like someone decided to sue EA over the monopoly that EA has over the NFL, NCAA, and AFL. Any game that was released after Jan. 1st, 2005 is part of the suit. I hope they win. This year is the first year I have not bought Madden in like 10 years. If they win, I will get what, $27.46? :lol: I made that number up, but it couldn't be much. The only thing this would do is make a lawyer even richer but it could allow others to make NFL games again too so that would be great!
A class-action lawsuit alleges that videogame publisher Electronic Arts has violated California antitrust and consumer-protection laws by overcharging for its popular Madden football games.
Law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is filing the suit, which claims EA’s exclusive licenses with the National Football League and other sports organizations hurts consumers. The license ensures that only Madden can use NFL team names and players. Since football gamers are by and large looking to replicate the NFL experience, this makes it extremely difficult for other football games to challenge EA.
The lawsuit also targets EA’s deals with the National Football League Players’ Association, the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Arena Football League.
Some gamers reported receiving an e-mail about the lawsuit Wednesday morning. Anyone who has “purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football or Arena Football League brand videogames published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005, to the present” is considered a member of the class and is consequently eligible for any compensation if the lawsuit succeeds.
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who holds two law degrees, cast heavy doubt on the the legal action’s chances for success.
“I think that the suit is idiotic, and would bet it’s dismissed,” he said in an e-mail to Wired.com.
Exclusive intellectual-property licenses are commonplace across the games industry, Pachter noted. “Marvel doesn’t license Spider-Man to multiple movie studios or game companies, and they don’t have to,” he said, adding that consumers are not being overcharged since new Madden games are sold at the same suggested retail price as sports games that are not licensed exclusively. The original list prices for EA’s exclusive Madden NFL 11 and Take-Two’s nonexclusive NBA 2K11 were both $60.
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A class-action lawsuit alleges that videogame publisher Electronic Arts has violated California antitrust and consumer-protection laws by overcharging for its popular Madden football games.
Law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is filing the suit, which claims EA’s exclusive licenses with the National Football League and other sports organizations hurts consumers. The license ensures that only Madden can use NFL team names and players. Since football gamers are by and large looking to replicate the NFL experience, this makes it extremely difficult for other football games to challenge EA.
The lawsuit also targets EA’s deals with the National Football League Players’ Association, the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Arena Football League.
Some gamers reported receiving an e-mail about the lawsuit Wednesday morning. Anyone who has “purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football or Arena Football League brand videogames published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005, to the present” is considered a member of the class and is consequently eligible for any compensation if the lawsuit succeeds.
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who holds two law degrees, cast heavy doubt on the the legal action’s chances for success.
“I think that the suit is idiotic, and would bet it’s dismissed,” he said in an e-mail to Wired.com.
Exclusive intellectual-property licenses are commonplace across the games industry, Pachter noted. “Marvel doesn’t license Spider-Man to multiple movie studios or game companies, and they don’t have to,” he said, adding that consumers are not being overcharged since new Madden games are sold at the same suggested retail price as sports games that are not licensed exclusively. The original list prices for EA’s exclusive Madden NFL 11 and Take-Two’s nonexclusive NBA 2K11 were both $60.
Check it out here (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)