Class Action Lawsuit vs. EA (Madden NFL, ect.)

[Kaiseran]

So, I got this e-mail today.

GEOFFREY PECOVER and ANDREW OWENS v. ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.
U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.)
Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW

If You Purchased Certain Electronic Arts Brand Football Video Games
Between January 1, 2005 to the Present
You May Be a Class Member.

Membership as a class member in the Electronic Arts Litigation is the result of a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division (Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW).

What Is This Class Action About?
The class action lawsuit alleges violations of California's antitrust and consumer protection laws in connection with the sale of certain football video games. Plaintiffs, purchasers of Electronic Arts' football video games, claim that Defendant Electronic Arts entered into a series of exclusive licenses with the National Football League (NFL), National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and Arena Football League (AFL), which Plaintiffs claim foreclosed competition in an alleged football video game market. Plaintiffs allege that this series of exclusive licenses caused customers who purchased certain football video games to be overcharged.
Defendant Electronic Arts has denied any liability and all allegations of misconduct. The Court has not decided whether the Defendants did anything wrong, and this Notice is not an expression of any opinion by the Court about the merits of any of the claims or defenses asserted by any party to this litigation.

Who Are Class Members?
The Class includes all persons who, during the period January 1, 2005 to the present, purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football League brand video games published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005 to the present. Excluded from the class are purchasers of software for mobile devices, persons purchasing directly from Electronic Arts, persons purchasing used copies of the relevant football video games, and Electronic Arts' employees, officers, directors, legal representatives, and wholly or partly owned subsidiaries or affiliated companies.

What Should I Do? (Getting Further Information)
If you believe that you may be a class member (see above "Who Are Class Members"), you should get more detailed information about the class action and its potential effect on you and your rights. Further information can be obtained by going to the following website: www.easportslitigation.com. Additional information about the lawsuit may be obtained from Plaintiffs' Counsel website at www.hbsslaw.com, or by calling Plaintiffs' Counsel at 1-206-623-7292.

To Remain a Class Member
If you are a class member and you do nothing, you will be bound by the court's rulings in the lawsuit, including any final Settlement or Judgment.

To Exclude Yourself from the Class
(Deadline to Request Exclusion: June 25, 2011)
If you are a class member and you want to exclude yourself from the class and keep your right to sue Defendant, you must take further action before June 25, 2011. By that date, you must request exclusion in writing to this address:
Electronic Arts Litigation Exclusion
P.O. Box 8090
San Rafael CA 94912-8090

Or submit a request for exclusion electronically at the following website: www.easportslitigation.com

For further information about excluding yourself from the class go to the following website:
www.easportslitigation.com

Please do not telephone or address inquiries to the Court.
April 6, 2011. By Order of the U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.).

Has anyone else received this? What do you make of it?

[Synbios]

I got that today also. I haven't heard of EA getting sued in a class action lawsuit but I don't really pay attention to that. I was going to wait a few days then check new sources to see if this is legit and how I go about collecting my .32 worth of class actionness.

[6souls]

So it's someone taking EA to court relinquish the exclusive NFL rights they have.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/06/cl...ball-monopoly/
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...oes-ahead.aspx

[Patb]

Oh man. NFL 2k12 please.

[Odin'sLaw]

its all Kyo's fault! >.>;

[volcanicweather]

Got the same e-mail and hell yes, maybe they will make EA do more than just update the rosters every year (which they do poorly anyways) and make some small changes. Would love to see a new game from the NFL2K series, I have enjoyed those far more than madden games.

[Azull]

Have the EA football games been priced more then regular games or other sports games? Seems if they people feel they were overcharged this is pretty much open and shut in EA's favor.

[Mjd]

Oh man. NFL 2k12 please.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPLEASE

[Melena]

IIRC, EA had a price war with the NFL2K series and typically after the first week if not sooner, there was a price drop. Since EA got the exclusive license, not only did the prices remain fixed till it reached the age of a minor price drop, innovation to the game went to shit.

[BadKarma]

NFL 2k5 for 19.99.

Best fucking football game ever.

[Kyo]

NFL 2k5 for 19.99.

Best fucking football game ever.

2K8 was the best and fuck Madden, I want 2K football back.

[*Shinzon*]

Ea bought out the competition which wasn't really illegal. But what this is stemming from is the NFLPA attacking the exclusive licenses and advertisements that the NFL arranged awhile back. Unless this is something totally different? Im just kinda assuming it was related to the NFLPA's case.

[volcanicweather]

Ea bought out the competition which wasn't really illegal. But what this is stemming from is the NFLPA attacking the exclusive licenses and advertisements that the NFL arranged awhile back. Unless this is something totally different? Im just kinda assuming it was related to the NFLPA's case.

EA didn't buy out their competition, they purchased the NFLPA/NCAA/etc rights and cockblocked their competition from obtaining these rights which gave EA an unfair advantage in the football video game marketplace. Even if a company with a similar revenue to EA wanted to produce a football game there's no way that they could fairly compete in the football game space with EA owning the exclusive rights to all of the football leagues (amateur or professional) thus the reason for the antitrust suit.

[Selamis]

Yeah I got the email as well and figured I'd wait a little bit to see what comes out for details and such before looking at staying on or opting out of the suit if eligible.

[izembo]

the lawsuit is because they feel they raised the price to $59 from $49 just because they got the exclusive rights. not because they got the exclusive rights. the nfl only wanted there to be 1 football game so the fans aren't divided, there isn't going to be a 2k football game, don't get your hopes up. this is going to go nowhere, as their argument is flawed because they're pricing games at $49 which continued to be the legacy game price. it raised to $59 because thats what 360 games are, not because of a monopoly.

edit: also, its a class action suit and as far as im aware the most you'd be able to get is back that $10 per year that you can prove that you indeed bought that game brand new, as it excludes any used sales, people who bought direct from EA, and a few others. so at most you'd get back what? $50?

[Ksandra]

the lawsuit is because they feel they raised the price to $59 from $49 just because they got the exclusive rights. not because they got the exclusive rights. the nfl only wanted there to be 1 football game so the fans aren't divided, there isn't going to be a 2k football game, don't get your hopes up. this is going to go nowhere, as their argument is flawed because they're pricing games at $49 which continued to be the legacy game price. it raised to $59 because thats what 360 games are, not because of a monopoly.

I was gonna say this lawsuit didn't make sense. A lot of companies have exclusive rights to make certain things into games (movies to games comes to mind). Not sure why sports would be able to be different.

[Kaiseran]

Nice input. I'm aware I won't end up a millionaire from this, but it's gonna be kinda fun to let this play out.

I was gonna say this lawsuit didn't make sense. A lot of companies have exclusive rights to make certain things into games (movies to games comes to mind). Not sure why sports would be able to be different.

I thought so as well. Isn't that the reason MvC3 took soooo long to come out because Activision had the Marvel licence?

[Ksandra]

ya I also remember there was something about the issues with LotR offline games when the movies came out because one company had the rights to the movie the other had the rights to the books, so there were like two types of games coming out (the book people wanted to try and make some money off the whole craze that was going on). iirc the movie group tried to stop the book group n' failed or something.

[Talint]

the lawsuit is because they feel they raised the price to $59 from $49 just because they got the exclusive rights. not because they got the exclusive rights. the nfl only wanted there to be 1 football game so the fans aren't divided, there isn't going to be a 2k football game, don't get your hopes up. this is going to go nowhere, as their argument is flawed because they're pricing games at $49 which continued to be the legacy game price. it raised to $59 because thats what 360 games are, not because of a monopoly.

^--- this, plus a few other things

EA is an absolute slave to all their IPs. Specifically, the NFL choose EA to have exclusivity as they know EA (at the time anyway) puts out the best game out of the competition. They also knew that that they can have serious sway over the way EA develops the game; the way things handle and look, branding, and such.

Moreover, the amount of profit EA sees from the NFL license isn't nearly as lucrative as many think. I can't deal with exact numbers, but at the end of the day, EA nets a few million in profits after the development cycle is finished. At least ten to fifteen times as much goes into the actual development of the game.

For as much distaste as I have for EA (Well, Tiburon specifically), I wouldn't go so fast as to pin this on them really. They would make the argument that the price raise was necessary, and probably demanded by the NFL, as they were tired of watching their brand be spread all over the place and the quality being lackluster.

[Moridam]

NFL 2k5 for 19.99.

Best fucking football game ever.

Indeed. You could even install it to the PS2 HDD! I think mine still has the game data on there, haha.