What's going on with EA Sports?

[corncraze]

Got this in my email

http://www.easportslitigation.com/

[VectorVictor]

EA is being sued by consumers for their monopoly on NCAA and NFL sports-related titles and subsequent pricing.

 

Problem really isn't that EA bought the exclusive license from the NFL and NCAA--the problem is that when they did that, there were competing products on the market (e.g. the glorious NFL 2K5) that sold for $29.99--much less than the $49.99 (and now $59.99) that Madden sold for. Additionally, many football videogame aficionados contend that the 2K5 offering was a superior experience compared to that year's Madden title.

 

As a result, NFL 2K5 sales came very close to overtaking Madden until EA did two things--they lowered the price of Madden to $29.99, and they went and struck an exclusive deal with the NFL to cut 2K sports out of the market. As soon as EA obtained their exclusive deal with the NFL and 2K was left without a competing game, they jacked the price back up to $59.99.

 

Honestly, I'm shocked this hasn't come up sooner.

 

Also, rinse/repeat for the NCAA part of this lawsuit, including the same players (2K Sports, EA) in the same positions.

 

Additionally, some folks have said that 2K Sports (the company) is in a similar bed with MLB, but 2K has a convenient hook to their agreement in that the 1st party console owners (e.g. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) can obtain a MLB license and publish first party, console specific titles only. Sony is currently the only company to do this with it's MLB series, which is decidedly better than the 2K offering the past couple of years. Microsoft bought a PC baseball franchise (High Heat IIRC?) with the intent to create a competing product but instead sat on the property, and Nintendo had Ken Griffey Jr. shill a 1st party title until it was pulled during the GameCube days.

 

Anyone that has purchased a NCAA or NFL title from EA since their respective exclusivity deals is a possible member of the class action lawsuit IIRC.

[strigori]

Bogus lawsuit really. "Overpricing" is a BS line when the NCAA and Madden games are released at the MSRP that all games for that platform are priced at. Well at least what would be called an AAA Title. $59.99 is the standard for PS3 and Xbox 360, and $49.99 for the PC. The price on Madden would not change if there were ten NFL games released. Its just not how the video game business model works. Sales come and go, but if continued sales are high on a specific title, the price stays $59.99. Sales tank, or never started off well, then the price drops to move inventory, and the game vanishes from the shelves.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

If Madden lowered their prices down to $29.99 to compete with NFL 2k5 and then cut an exclusive deal that forced 2k Sports off the NFL video game markets, and then immediately jacked the price back up to $59.99, then they should be sued. For one, they created a monopoly (I thought we coudln't have those) and they overcharged consumers because they put their prices down until they had complete control of the market, then jacked them right back up to even higher levels than before because they knew that if consumers wanted a football game, they would pay more to have the ONLY football game.

 

What I have more of a problem with is EA charging consumers to purchase online content if they did not purchase the game in its original packaging.

[strigori]

If Madden lowered their prices down to $29.99 to compete with NFL 2k5 and then cut an exclusive deal that forced 2k Sports off the NFL video game markets, and then immediately jacked the price back up to $59.99, then they should be sued. For one, they created a monopoly (I thought we coudln't have those) and they overcharged consumers because they put their prices down until they had complete control of the market, then jacked them right back up to even higher levels than before because they knew that if consumers wanted a football game, they would pay more to have the ONLY football game.

 

What I have more of a problem with is EA charging consumers to purchase online content if they did not purchase the game in its original packaging.

EA didn't do the first part. Its not a 'monopoly' as such, there are other football games, Blitz comes to mind. There are just no other NFL or NCAA games. What is essentially being asked of the court is to make exclusive deals illegal, and that is not going to happen.

 

I actually like the new trend of making people pay for the online access on used games. The used games market is a bad thing for the industry in general, and a sucker bet for anyone selling their games in. You get like $15 for a new game that retails for $60, gamestop then sells if for $50 or $55, I wouldn't do either.