Gamers Sue EA Over Madden Exclusivity
Tristan Oliver, Founder | June 12, 2008
Suit Claims Anticompetitive Practices
The gears of a class-action suit regarding a now years-old exclusivity agreement between Electronic Arts and NFL licenses are turning.
The US District Court of Northern California has seen a new complaint filed. Filed on behalf of two gamers but with the potential to vest more complainants, the suit alleges “blatantly anticompetitive conduct” in EA’s handling of the NFL licenses exclusively to its football series–among them, the long storied Madden franchise.
The suit, which seeks damages in the form of compensation to any consumer who purchased an EA football title from August 2005 on, cites EA’s price drop of Madden 2005 to $19.95 in the face of stiff competition from Take-Two’s NFL 2K5, at $29.95, which sold nearly 3 million copies in total. Once EA bought NFL exclusivity rights, the suit notes, EA’s price for Madden ‘06 shot up to $49.95. The suit also notes the potential takeover of T2, saying, if approved, would nix the one company who has demonstrated the capability to be competitive in the football sim realm versus EA.
The suit also seeks the exclusivity agreement between EA and the NFL to be declared void.
Most analysts expect this lawsuit to die in the courts, but we will keep you posted.
[...] couple months ago we had a story about a group of gamers suing EA Sports over the NFL license exclusivity deal present with the [...]