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Justice to be served? Lawsuit filed against EA for exclusivity agreements photo

For years, gamers have loathed EA Sports’ exclusivity agreements for football videogames. Currently, EA is the only publisher that can make a game that uses the NFL, NCAA, or AFL (arena football) licenses. They’re going to keep that stranglehold on the industry for a while, too; earlier this year, they extended their exclusivity agreement with the NFL through 2012.

Well, it looks like two fans of football videogames decided to heed the words of Twisted Sister; they’re going to try and put an end to EA’s monopoly by having the District Court for the Northern District of California lay down the law. Jeffrey Lawrence of California and Geoffrey Pecover of Washington, D.C., have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has purchased an EA football videogame since August 2005 (i.e., Madden NFL 06, NCAA Football 06, and newer games), and they want blood.

The suit (the full text of which can be viewed in PDF form here) alleges nine counts of “anticompetitive conduct”, including, but not limited to, this: “By signing the exclusive agreement with the NFL, Electronic Arts immediately killed off Take-Two's NFL 2K5 software, the only competing interactive football product of comparable quality to its Madden NFL franchise.” Can’t argue there, can you? Of course, as I noted in my c-blog treatise on exclusivity agreements a while back, Peter Moore explained that the NFL offered the exclusivity deal in the first place, and EA won the bidding war. Bully for capitalism, eh?

As for damages, the lawsuit lists nine ways for EA to make things right, such as: “Equitable relief in the form of restitution and/or disgorgement of all unlawful or illegal profits received by Defendant as a result of the anticompetitive conduct alleged in [sic] herein.” Yeesh. Good luck with that, gentlemen. Perhaps some of Destructoid’s resident law experts (HarassmentPanda, I’m looking at you) can peruse the PDF linked above and let us know if the plaintiffs actually have a case here. Pastapadre.com didn’t seem to think so, but at the very least, I’m on the side of the little guys here. What about you?

[Via Pastapadre.com -- thanks, coonskin05!]


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29 comments | showing # 1 to 29

Grocerspride's Avatar
Grocerspride at 06/11/2008 18:23
Unfortunately I don't they have much of a chance of doing anything other than sparking debates in the gaming community.

Since playing a game that is officially licensed by the NFL is entirely optional, it's not like it's hurting anyone. I'm against the sports exclusivity agreements that have been made as of late, but I'm not sure if there is anything illegal about the agreements that have been made between the game publishers and the NFL, NCAA, MLB and so on.
DaedHead8's Avatar
DaedHead8 at 06/11/2008 18:23
I don't know the first thing about laws and courts and such. However, based on the fact that the NFL was shopping the license around I don't think EA can be held accountable. The fact that they have the AFL license is suspect though, I had no idea.
kevinski's Avatar
kevinski at 06/11/2008 18:27
Erm...yeah, it's the NFL's fault. I hate EA, but this wasn't entirely their fault. The NFL offered it, so file the lawsuit against the NFL. I hope that it gets some results, though.
NihonTiger90's Avatar
NihonTiger90 at 06/11/2008 18:50
There's no case here. It's the NFL's fault, and to be honest, the NFL does not give a flying fuck about the quality of Madden games.
DaveKap's Avatar
DaveKap at 06/11/2008 18:50
As someone who does not enjoy sports games unless there's some kind of unreal quality about them (Baseball 2020, Monster League Football, Blitz) I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the exclusivity deal is a good thing. Why?...

For too long sports games have gotten away with "same old shit, new roster" games that are lazily made and yet still sell millions to the sheep gamers of the world who think that playing as their favorite sport star is what makes a game fun. What this leads to is just roster updates and no real innovation in the genre.

However, with the roster's inability to be updated as the roster is now exclusive to EA, anyone with the idea to make a football game needs to have an idea of a cool feature to bring in the crowd who play games because games are fun, and not because they want to pretend they are Brett Favre. I dare say, by not having competition, EA is forcing other companies to innovate which can lead to games that, at the very least, I'll actually want to purchase, as opposed to the same rigmarole roster update BS that has plagued consoles for years.

But hey, that's just my devil's advocate wanting another Baseball 2020 to come along. :)
Zanch's Avatar
Zanch at 06/11/2008 18:54
Wow, cry me a fucking river. The NFL decided to sign the agreement with EA, so the blame should be on them if they're looking to point a finger somewhere.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar
TrailerParkJesus at 06/11/2008 18:54
I didn't know two random dudes off the street could sue for something like that.
FutureViperOwner's Avatar
FutureViperOwner at 06/11/2008 18:56
Normally, I'd ignore this as being just another frivolous lawsuit in the pipeline. But for me, what makes this interesting is the fact that the NFL is already recognized by the federal government as a legalized monopoly. If a legal monopoly offers an exclusive contract to another company in an unrelated industry, doesn't that give said company a monopoly as well?
Corak's Avatar
Corak at 06/11/2008 18:58
I disagree somewhat with davekap. He does bring up some good points. The problem is that since EA has had this agreement I don't think their games have been that innovative since they agreed to it. Ever since the year 2K trumped Madden with both companies having the license, in my opinion, Madden hasn't gotten that much better, think about last years debacle with the framerate issues. Since EA doesn't have to compete with anyone because they have the license, why would they have to be innovative? If you want to play as Favre, guess what, you'll have to get Madden since there isn't another choice for you. I think competition breeds more innovation that exclusive rights.
Volomon's Avatar
Volomon at 06/11/2008 19:03
They might actually have a sort of case, but I feel that they could possibly prove that EA is acquiring licenses in the effort to limit competitors abilities to compete with their software.

That in itself is pretty suspect to the anticompetitive laws of CA.

Its not going to be anything major like a monopoly or something basically it looks like the suit just suggests that EA is purposely forcing opponents out of the race.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 06/11/2008 19:14
@DaveKap: Say what you want, but most of the sports gaming public is only interested in something that has the NFL license. Even Blitz had real NFL teams.
Syn's Avatar
Syn at 06/11/2008 19:52
I'm in agreement with DaveKap for the most part. I likewise do not like sports games because I find them boring. Except for like the old Mutant League games. However as for filing a suit against EA all I have to say is
DaveKap's Avatar
DaveKap at 06/11/2008 20:01
@Corak: Either you read my comment too quickly or I didn't say it clear enough, but I'm saying that by holding NFL exclusivity rights, EA will force its competitors to innovate. I'm not saying EA will innovate, I'm saying they won't, and to catch up on pulling in customers, other companies will have to be the ones who innovate.

It's taken a while for EA's competition to respond, but I believe that Backbreaker, Tecmo Super Bowl, and All-Pro Football are perfectly acceptable responses to EA's "get yer new roster here!" style.

@Samit Sarkar: I agree with you 100%, which is why I say what I want. The fact that the sports gaming public is only interested in actual licensed sports games makes me weep (considering my belief that games should be played because they are fun to play) but is just a fact of life to get over. My only real reason for concern is the competition's inability to bring us another Monster League Football, or at least something similar.

And for the record, NFL Blitz could have not been NFL licensed and I still would have enjoyed it. It's just enough on the side of "unreal" that it was a great play... at least until the latest additions to the series that just have fun with cursing and bouncing boobs.
01DragonFly's Avatar
01DragonFly at 06/11/2008 20:35
yeah i think that they should let players decide which version is better than the rest, making exclusives of these franchises only make developers like EA to give us almost the same each new version with barely changes in it.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar
ArrestedDeveloper at 06/11/2008 20:40
I don't know if they have a leg to stand on but I would love them to win.
Corak's Avatar
Corak at 06/11/2008 20:43
@davekap
Thanks for clearing that up man.

I'm the type of sports fan where if I'm looking for a realistic-ish sports game like Madden I want the game to have the actual players in it. When I own someone with Urlacher I want to see his name on his jersey and hear the announcer say his name, and not "boy #54 sure hit him hard there." And as it stands now all you can get for the Madden type of football game with the actual players names in it is to actually get Madden. There isn't another choice, and I don't like it one bit.

While other types of football games are fun, like Blitz, most sports gamers I know prefer the real type sporting games with the actual players' names. Say what you like, but I remember back in the day when Michael Jordan wasn't in my favorite basketball game one year and some other look alike was, with a different name, I was pretty bumbed. I kept thinking to myself "you mean I can't play as Michael Jordan? I could last year." Being a Chicago native I probably took it harder than some. Turns out I think he had his own game that year.

I have a feeling that no matter how innovative a sports game is, if it doesn't have the actual players names in it, I don't give it a second thought. Might sound sad but that's how I feel.
The Unbiased Voice's Avatar
The Unbiased Voice at 06/11/2008 20:48
@FutureViperOwner: The NFL does not have an Antitrust Exemption. The only professional sport that does is MLB. In fact the NFL got sued for violating antitrust laws back in the early eighties by the owners of the AFL led by Donald Trump. The AFL won, but it was a pyrrhic victory since their damages were one dollar which was then trebled.
DrNutt's Avatar
DrNutt at 06/11/2008 20:50
Yeah, and by the way, I have All Pro 2K8 and it sucks. What happened, 2K sports? It was a great concept for competition, and they screwed the pooch and made a shitty game.
JonDarkwood's Avatar
JonDarkwood at 06/11/2008 21:02
Yeah right.

In construction you don't lose a contract and then get bitchy because someone competed better than you could.

People think they have a case for whatever the hell the want to get out of it. They're idiots. It's too bad it's probably class-action and it won't just drain their finances, because they deserve to have their money taken like the suckers they are.
Volomon's Avatar
Volomon at 06/11/2008 21:23
@JonDarkwood Well if you want to use those terminologies, this is more like someone coming in with 10x your ability to out bid them on not one contract but all construction contracts available to you.

Then after they made those bids, they produce under par work. However since they purchase all available contracts around you, you have to close down your construction business.

The two guys are customers in this ordeal after realizing that EA can't construct shit worth anything, they realize there is no one else to turn to because EA killed the competition.
FutureViperOwner's Avatar
FutureViperOwner at 06/11/2008 21:45
@The Unbiased Voice: I think you meant the USFL. The NFL may not have the same kind of antitrust exemption granted to MLB, but the NFL/AFL merger required Congress to pass special legislation that exempted the merger from antitrust action. I guess that's a big difference from what I implied in my original post though.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 06/11/2008 21:54
Loophole for EA and the NFL: EA licenses the NFL non-exclusively, and the NFL simply refuses offers for the license from other companies. It's their right to refuse the use of their license. I wouldn't expect much of a result, even if EA loses this case.
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 06/11/2008 22:47
Doesn't affect me, but I still like fighting EA's assholeness.
TheBrain's Avatar
TheBrain at 06/12/2008 00:14
I don't like what EA has done but I think this lawsuit is completely without merit.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 06/12/2008 03:02
wow sweet lawsuit, keep us updated on this please, would really like to hear how this turns out, after that they can sue Sony for monopolizing the glorious Formula1...
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 06/12/2008 06:23
Hey if this means any progress towards removing the Marvel license, I'm all for it.
savagesaladin's Avatar
savagesaladin at 06/12/2008 08:13
I hope EA gets AIDS.

I hate sports games because I hate having to control the entire team. I want to control one player. They need to make an first-person football game where you control one player. I think that would actually be somewhat intense. Maybe you can get a feel when you're at that players POV.
Brilliam's Avatar
Brilliam at 06/12/2008 09:31
Maybe next they can sue the MLB off of 2K. I miss my MVP Baseball.
gore on the floor's Avatar
gore on the floor at 06/12/2008 11:38
@savagesaladin

See MLB 08: The Show
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