Gamers sue EA over football exclusivity

[ProjectPat2280]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6192409.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0

Apparently 2 gamers are upset that EA has a choke hold on the American football market stating that EA's exclusive deals lead to "blatantly anticompetitive conduct" being that they own rights to NCAA Football, NFL Football and Arena Football.


Well, i dont think this is gonna go anywhere but maybe it'll open up the doors for other organizations to take a look into EA's "monopoly" practices.


So those who are fans of football titles or just sports titles in general, what are your thoughts??

 

[Joker]

Competition is always a good thing. EA have been turning around in a lot of their sleazier buisness practices in the last year or so, it would seem (Activision seems to be the new EA), but the football monopoloy does bother me.

 

[Drizzle]

At this point, who cares anymore? Even if EA did lose exclusive rights, everyone would still buy Madden anyway. The only football game I've enjoyed other than the Madden series was NFL Blitz for N64.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

At this point, who cares anymore? Even if EA did lose exclusive rights, everyone would still buy Madden anyway. The only football game I've enjoyed other than the Madden series was NFL Blitz for N64.

You raise a good point. There is that group of gamers who play nothing but sports titles(i have a friend like that)and will purchase Madden and NCAA every yr regardless of the final product. What bugs me is that i KNOW that if 2K still was producing an NFL game, wed have at least one FANTASTIC NFL game, rather it be the NFL 2K series or Madden. Like Joker said, competition is good for everyone and imo, the best Madden was back in 05, which went head to head with NFL 2K5, 2K's best NFL title.

 

[TheBat812]

I'm totally in on this. I've hated EA ever since they bought the NFL rights. **** them. Their game sucks anyways, and it kind of blows that I haven't been able to enjoy a football game since 2k5 came out.

 

[Fading]

I'm for and against it. I'm for competition, I'm against this sue happy time we live in where someone half a world away sues someone who they never met for insignificant crap. If this was a fellow game developer wanting in on the football action, go for it. However even if we gamers want a good game, we can't make another developer make it. Sueing a game company because we want better games never goes anywhere and just makes gamers look ******ed IMO.

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

It won't work, sorry we have no real power, and as Fading CB says, this mentality will not do our culture or more importantly in this case the industry any good. It sucks that EA has the licenses, but thats the way it is. Also, as Drizzle says, would it change things at all, would you buy the probably inferior product?

Real football has the same problem, EA's FIFA has the license to EVERY football team over the globe, including the English Premiere League till 2010. However, there is and always has been the far superior product, Pro Evolution Soccer which until recently has struggled to capture any licence at all.

Its a fact of life, and until companies prioritise quality over the bottom line, it will stay that way. If you ever think thats going to change, wake up I'm afraid.

 

[Fading]

Agreed. I think my main problem tho is that it's gamers sueing. Did EA directly harm them? What's the goal of the trial? Since their gamers it's obviously not so they can develop a football game. I haven't fully read it but I can guess there's cash on the line here, and if that's the case then why should those gamers get it and not all gamers?

That's where my problem lies. If another game developer was just wanting the rights to develop a rival sports game then that's ok. However what's the point of this? Will winning the case force another video game developer to make a good sports game?

However with that said, like said above, I do like competition. I think 1 developer monopolizing a genre leads to boring horrid games. Look at Raw vs. Smackdown, a once fun series but with little competition in the wrestling game world it's led to glitchy games that get worse each go. I mean there are still glitches from RvS on previous incarnations of the Playstation that are still there as theres no motivation to fix it.

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

Spot on

I every walk of life, competition breeds superiority. We have evolved upon that process and we have thrived upon it. Unfortunately in the world today there are two major factors counterproductive to this notion.

A) The EA syndrome: The leader begins with a monopoly on everything, exploiting their wealth to directly hinder the opposition in a capitalist notion. Noone likes it but the thought process is sound, especially from a business standpoint.

B) Loser Talk: (This doesn't really apply here but...) The increasing attitude that it is enough to take part. You may not have experienced this personally, but the increasing softly, softly approach to childrens sports is breeding a lack of sporting talent in the UK, and is ruining our culture creating poorly driven youths/mootchers.

I don't know why I've just rambled on....?

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

Look at Raw vs. Smackdown, a once fun series but with little competition in the wrestling game world it's led to glitchy games that get worse each go. I mean there are still glitches from RvS on previous incarnations of the Playstation that are still there as theres no motivation to fix it.

I thought is was just me who prefered the older WWE games. Hmm. The new ones suck azz.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

However what's the point of this? Will winning the case force another video game developer to make a good sports game?

The point is that, if by stroke of pure luck, these guys win this case, then EA will have been found to have an unfair monopoly on the genre of American Football and will be forced to release said licenses. Which means that it would be possible for 2K to get back into the game, thus giving us a football title we can be proud of. Now, like most of us agree, this will be thrown out before anything gets moving.

The problem with this whole argument is that, EA didnt seek out the NFL for the exclusive license, the NFL basically auctioned off its license to the highest bidder, EA having more money than God, out bid everyone else. Now as for the other licenses(Arean and NCAA) im not sure.

 

[Mister J]

Wasn't there a more 'formal' lawsuit (perhaps by some of the other developers) when EA first got the rights a few years ago? Or one attempted before falling apart? I could swear I've read about litigation on this specific issue before.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Wasn't there a more 'formal' lawsuit (perhaps by some of the other developers) when EA first got the rights a few years ago? Or one attempted before falling apart? I could swear I've read about litigation on this specific issue before.

Im not sure, but i wouldnt be the least bit surprised.