Judge Certifies Madden Lawsuit
The class-action lawsuit against Electronic Arts, makers of the popular Madden video game franchise, may continue, ruled US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker when he certified the class-action lawsuit late in December.
The law firm, Hagens Berman, filed the suit in 2008, citing on their website :
"The lawsuit alleges EA established agreements with the National Football League (NFL), The NFL Players Union, Arena Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), that drove competition out of the market and prevented new competitors from entering."
Electronic Arts and the NFL came to terms on an exclusive licensing deal in later 2004 which enabled only Electronic Arts to use the likeness of all things NFL (including its players) in video games. The deal killed the critically acclaimed NFL 2k series distributed by Sega, a series that introduced the sports gaming world to a $20 price tag for a brand new sports game (by some considered the best of all time), NFL 2K5.
Electronic Arts Price Gouging?
Here's the beef. Electronic Arts dropped the price of their football game Madden 2005 to 29.95 to compete with Sega's game. It didn't matter. The 2K series took Madden's crown of video-game football king heading into the next generation console wars (Xbox 360 and PS3). They had the fresh ideas, the stellar gameplay, the hot graphics, and an even better pricing point. Madden had only its namesake and its history - that is, until the exclusivity deal.
The very next season, Madden 2006 creeped up to $39.95. Madden 2007 cost $59.99, the standard price of a PS3/Xbox 360 video game, and a far cry from NFL 2K5's $20 price tag. Now, gamers may recuperate some of that extra cash if EA decides to settle out of court, or loses the case. If you feel you may be eligible to receive damages from these proceedings (if you have purchased a Madden game since 2005), Hagens Berman has contact information here.
"We believe EA forced consumers to pay an artificial premium on Madden NFL video games," said attorney Hagens Berman. "We intend to prove that EA could inflate prices on their sports titles because these exclusive licenses restrained trade and competition for interactive sports software."
Mum's the Word from EA
Electronic Arts has not issued any statements up to this point in the proceedings, and at this point, it's difficult to gauge what this lawsuit will change. If EA settles out of court, and pays damages, will the video game behemoth also reduce the price of future Madden video games? Will the judge rule the exclusivity deal made between EA and the NFL illegal? Will the NFL 2K series be resurrected from the dead? Will EA simply win the case? At this point, it's all just speculation.
