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Gamers sue EA for "Anti-competitive practices"


Jam Stunna
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Considering how many people hate EA on these boards, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192409.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;title;1

he class-action complaint focuses on Electronic Arts' actions since 2004, when Take-Two Interactive's NFL 2K5 was released at a $19.99 price point and sold more than 2.9 million copies in the US, according to NPD figures. Take-Two's previous football game, ESPN NFL Football, sold fewer than 450,000 copies in the US. Meanwhile, EA dropped the price of its Madden 2005 from $49.95 to $29.95 in response.

"This vigorous competition benefited consumers," according to the suit. "Electronic Arts could have continued to compete by offering a lower price and/or a higher quality product. Instead, Electronic Arts quickly entered into a series of exclusive agreements with the only viable sports football associations in the United States: the National Football League, the Arena Football League, and NCAA Football."

This lawsuit is ridiculous to me. As I understand it, the NFL is the one who put up the exclusive rights for sale, because they did not want a bidding war to cut into their profits (which is what did happen when Take-Two slashed their game's price). The rights were up for grabs, and EA simply outbid Take-Two for those rights. How can you sue a company for making a smart business move?

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Who cares about football games.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10799&Itemid=2

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Take-Two: 9.43M

2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Activision: 8.2M

3. Madden NFL 07, Electronic Arts: 7.7M

4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Take-Two: 7.3M

5. Madden NFL 06, Electronic Arts: 6.65M

6. Halo 2, Microsoft: 6.6M

7. Madden NFL 08: 6.56M

8. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision: 6.25M

9. Grand Theft Auto III, Take-Two: 6.2M

10. Madden NFL 05, Electronic Arts: 6.1M

Alot of people.

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Fixed. Hurray racial stereotypes.

No but seriously, who cares? The Madden series(or any sports series) of video games are pretty much churned out on a yearly basis for the sake of making money for a company so they can focus on some real good shit. It's like the comedy film genre, and it's akin to how college football indirectly brings in more money for other departments in any given campus. We should count ourselves fortunate that the ignorant and barbaric outnumber us so greatly.

That being said, I've never liked the fact that EA is becoming this juggernaut of a company what with all it's practices, but again who cares? It's just a dumb football game.

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The people that play football games are usually the ones that complain about RPGs being boring because you just wade through menus... Anyone else find that ironic?

As for the suit, I'm usually against these kind of law suits anyway, but seeing as how their main argument seems to be "Madden need get better, then me happiness" it kind of puts EA in the clear. Truthfully, I agree that the NFL should be sued, if anything, since Take Two just lost a bidding war for the rights to make NFL-branded games... So EA just made a smarter business move.

EDIT: the money that they used to have the bidding war had to come from somewhere... Serves the people who bought the same damn game year after year right. Finally there's righteous retribution for those idiots.

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I doubt this will go anywhere. EA having the NFL license may have made a difference in competitiveness among football titles, but it means squat in terms of the game industry as a whole. If people want EA to actually improve their sports titles, then they can always stop buying new ones, play the old ones they already own, and if they're in need of some new games go out and buy any of the dozens of great games that come out every year. As long as there are literally hundreds of other game options besides Madden to choose from, this argument falls flat with me.

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I used to be a huge Madden fan until the series became so convoluted (QB Vision totally destroyed all fun in that game), not to mention that it really is just the same game every year. I really would have preferred if EA made the roster changes downloadable and went back to releasing Madden every 2-3 years, so that they can actually make improvements. But you can't possibly fault them for selling people the same game every year when they're buying it. They'd be stupid not to make the quick money.

Why is there so much hate towards football games? Is a football game somehow less legitimate than another game? People seem to forget that videogames are about enjoyment, not proving you're some ultimate gamer by collecting all the magical kidney stones in some obscure Japanese RPG.

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The people that play football games are usually the ones that complain about RPGs being boring because you just wade through menus... Anyone else find that ironic?

No. I've never heard any of my friends who pretty much bought their 360s for sports games say this. I think the people that play football games, for the most part, don't even care about RPGs. It's just internet elitists on gaming forums who do all the trash talking about how stupid football games and the people that play them are.

Contrary to popular gaming forum beliefs, it is possible to enjoy football games (if you enjoy football) and "hardcore" games as well.

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The more EA and the NFL get screwed, the happier I will be. It was extremely weak of them to do the exclusive deal. In analogical form, I compare it to a champion boxer who is afraid he'll lose a fight so he orders a hitman to shoot the other guy and he doesn't have to fight him anymore. It was a cowardly practice. Also, EA sucks wookie balls for dinner. They suck in so many ways that I don't even have to tell you, because you already know.

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The more EA and the NFL get screwed, the happier I will be. It was extremely weak of them to do the exclusive deal. In analogical form, I compare it to a champion boxer who is afraid he'll lose a fight so he orders a hitman to shoot the other guy and he doesn't have to fight him anymore. It was a cowardly practice. Also, EA sucks wookie balls for dinner. They suck in so many ways that I don't even have to tell you, because you already know.

That analogy was terrible.

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This lawsuit is ridiculous to me. As I understand it, the NFL is the one who put up the exclusive rights for sale, because they did not want a bidding war to cut into their profits (which is what did happen when Take-Two slashed their game's price). The rights were up for grabs, and EA simply outbid Take-Two for those rights. How can you sue a company for making a smart business move?

But how did the selling of the AFL and NCAA rights go down. Did they follow in the NFL's example, or did EA go after them to make sure companies like Take-Two didn't have a fall back? Depending on that, these guys may have a case.

The NFL news disappointed me because I enjoyed NFL Blitz, but figured they would just adjust to arena football. Midway always put some awesome arcade simplicity and over the top antics in their sports titles, and arena football would cater better to that anyways. Then EA snatched up the AFL rights too, which I don't think they even use. Midway still tried to get around EA, but that didn't work so well.

EDIT: Well... looks like they've made at least one AFL game. According to the EA site, only one.

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Firstly, EA pays the bills around here, so shut your goddamn mouth

Secondly, you know what baffles my shit? The fact that everyone sites Madden as the biggest complaint about EA. But really, how much can you iterate and add on to a football game? Madden was probably feature perfect around the oughts. How much more do you need before you can be satisfied year after year after year?

Jesus corporate-merging Christ!

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I don't hate Madden. There really is no reason for me to since I don't play sports games in general. But I find that EA specializes more in manufacturing than anything else. I guess it's like going to see a famous sculpture in real life and then going to the museum store and finding miniature plastic injection moldings of the same sculpture. EA will find a way to make money off of genius and skill, but it is very hard for themselves to create an entirely original product.

Practically, video gaming is a business like any other and though there are some that view it more as an art, the business/financial aspect cannot be avoided. However, this makes it enter a completely different arena in which corporate bullying and takeovers are a reality. I noticed that EA's overall practice has been to absorb any companies that may produce a threat or cut into their profits. EA is allowed to do this due to its sheer size. Once they obtain a developer, they mix around teams and such in hopes to produce a uniquely EA game. However, when they do this, a mental or even a philosophical change occurs within the team which usually results in a dilute version of the initial vision of the game/series/franchise. Some games produced by EA have benefited such as The Sims. Being the highest selling game in history, I don't think it would be possible without EA's marketing power. Though, I do object to EA's shameless endorsement which has led to The Sims 2 H&M edition.

In essence, I think that EA is to video games as Microsoft is to computer applications. Yes, both are very large and powerful and widespread throughout the community. But it will take a truly innovative and revolutionary company to be able to resist the sway of either's influence. I just really hate bullying in any shape or form. I do express more hate for EA than Microsoft since they are more persistent in their advances. In their more recent headlines, they attempted to gain Take-Two under their wing shortly before the release of GTA4 to get a piece of the profits. To me, that just sounds really shady. Take-Two has rejected their offer on numerous occasions, but EA has not accepted this response. No means no, EA.

Maybe this is how it is in business all the time. I don't know. But it really seems turbulent in the computer and video gaming fields. Maybe perhaps the government is partially to blame for not enforcing rules on these hobbyist industries from the start.

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I only ever played one on the MegaDrive, a demo of it in 2001, and a demo of NFL Street 2. I liked Street, it was what I expected from an EA BIG title. However the "main event" title, I thought that sucked horrendously bad.

Sounds a bit harsh coming from a European, but it's fact. Then again, I've no beef with buying NHL bi-annually like I do, or FIFA every year, simply because I think it's a more solid game than Pro Evo.

Other than that, I've noticed that I shy away from a lot of EA's non-sport games. I feel that if there's better elsewhere, then why buy from a company who throws money at low-key developers, hoover up their IPs and proceed to destroy them, as well as their employees with physically shattering hours and no overtime/holiday leave.

EDIT: And they also bought a minority stake in Ubisoft recently, but are refusing to sell the whole plant to them. Thanks be to Christ, I'd hate to think of how they can annihilate the goodness of the Prince of Persia or Creed serieses.

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I used to be a huge Madden fan until the series became so convoluted (QB Vision totally destroyed all fun in that game), not to mention that it really is just the same game every year. I really would have preferred if EA made the roster changes downloadable and went back to releasing Madden every 2-3 years, so that they can actually make improvements. But you can't possibly fault them for selling people the same game every year when they're buying it. They'd be stupid not to make the quick money.

Why is there so much hate towards football games? Is a football game somehow less legitimate than another game? People seem to forget that videogames are about enjoyment, not proving you're some ultimate gamer by collecting all the magical kidney stones in some obscure Japanese RPG.

Maybe 'cause they keep churning out the same game with a different roster every single year. I dunno, there are plenty of reasons one might have

Yeah, power to people playing games they like, but I see sports games as counter productive to sports anyway(and even my fighter genre is borderline here). If I wanted to play football, I'd go outside and play football as opposed to a virtual football simulation.

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