EA Anti-trust lawsuit

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SuperShouden

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SuperShouden
Right on the tail of the Infinity Ward lawsuit, another class action lawsuit has been filed against EA. Essentially, the complaints stem from EA's exclusivity of the professional football world. in 2004 EA purchase exclusive rights to the NFL, NCAA and Arena Football leagues instead of competing with Take Two Interactive. Now, that decision is coming back to haunt them, as claims of "price-couging" and "non-competitive practices" are being tossed around.

What are the ramifications of this? Well, EA could be forced to refund anyone who's purchased a Madden NFL, NCAA and/or arena football game since 2005, and they could loose their right to buy exclusive licenses. If EA looses, it most likely WILL be the end of their exclusive licenses over the NFL, NCAA and Arena Football franchises.

In other words, this is a massive lawsuit for EA. They could stand to loose millions in current revenue and billions in the long run.
 
So this may hamper EA's ability to acquire the exclusive licenses of those three leagues or in general like in FIFA and NFS? Also concerning the refunds, are we speaking here the whole price because that would be big bucks.
 
Could this knock on to the NFS series? If so we could be seeing porsche and BMW in more games...
 
Interesting, could you please ellaborate on the non-competitive practices they've been using?
 
The effect on EA's other licenses depends on if the case is treated as a simple non-competitive lawsuit pertaining towards their NFL licenses. However, if the court sees this as an anti-trust case, then they could possibly loose ALL their exclusive licenses.

As to the "non-competitive practices": Essentially, for a few years, Take Two released their 2K NFL series and it started a pricing war between Take Two and EA. However, in 2004, EA, instead of competing, simply bought all the licenses, effectively eliminating the competition. In 2005, the price for a Madden NFL game went from $30 to $40. Now, the series is priced at $60. That's a 100% increase in price after EA obtained the licenses. On top of that, they don't even compete with themselves. I mean, you can get Madden NFL 11 for $60, or Madden NFL 10 for $20.
 
IT's about time EA had their reigns yanked again. They may have been good for game developers careers, buy they have not been good for the gaming industry.
 
SuperShouden
In 2005, the price for a Madden NFL game went from $30 to $40. Now, the series is priced at $60. That's a 100% increase in price after EA obtained the licenses. On top of that, they don't even compete with themselves. I mean, you can get Madden NFL 11 for $60, or Madden NFL 10 for $20.
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Couldn't it be argued that the price increase is due to the natural increase of newer console games? I'm not defending them, I was just wondering that.
 
Damn, Coxis beat me to it! It is common for a PS3 New release to be $60/£40.

Also, EA don't have a very good business practice when it comes to games. If it's a small developer, buy them out, if not, obtain exclusive licences.
 
Coxis
Couldn't it be argued that the price increase is due to the natural increase of newer console games? I'm not defending them, I was just wondering that.
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ryanb98
Damn, Coxis beat me to it! It is common for a PS3 New release to be $60/£40.

Also, EA don't have a very good business practice when it comes to games. If it's a small developer, buy them out, if not, obtain exclusive licences.
Click to expand...

Except the price for Madden 06 was increased despite it being on the same consoles/platforms as 05 with the exception of the 360. Also, instead of competing with Take Two, they bought out the licenses. And Take Two was selling their NFL games for $10 cheaper than Madden. So, EA essentially said, look, we've been around since the beginning of video games and we really don't want to compete with you. Technically buying all the licenses for a genre instead of competing fairly is a violation of the competition laws. It also means they have a monopoly on the said franchise which is one reason EA has the best selling sports franchise.

I guess it could be argued that the price increase was natural, but it was a price increase immediately following their exclusive license purchases, which doesn't look good. Even if EA wins the lawsuit, they could still be forced to give up the NFL, NCAA and Arena football licenses as a compromise. In my opinion, I see that at least happening no matter the outcome of the trial.
 

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