The high-profile court case against EA Sport's monopoly in the NFL market took an interesting turn this week, with an economist brought in to show how much the demise of 2K's competing NFL franchise has cost sports gamers. Despite admitting his report is based on incomplete data, University of Michigan economics professor Dr. Jeffrey Mackie-Mason has told the the U.S. District Court in San Francisco that EA's domination of the NFL video games market has cost gamers between $701 million and $926 million since 2K's NFL2K series was blocked from competing with EA.
EA had previously requested that Judge Vaughn Walker dismiss claims by Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence. The two Madden buyers, serving as named plaintiffs in the class-action suit, alleged that by eliminating competition for NFL-licensed games EA had acted in a monopolistic fashion and unjustly enriched itself at the expense of consumers. On Friday Judge Walker issued a ruling denying EA's motion. The Judge did, however, rule that only claims in California and Washington, D.C. would go forward since that is where the two named plaintiffs in the case reside.
GamePolitics writes: I've been complaining (some might say whining) since 2005 that EA's exclusive arrangement with the NFL is, at best, a bad deal for gamers. At worst, it's a monopoly. Ultimately, the Federal Trade Commission, looked at the Madden issue in relation to EA's merger dance with Take-Two Interactive. But, inasmuch as the FTC pre-approved the EA-T2 deal, its regulators apparently came down against the monopoly view.
Sports video games are a huge business -- and for many years, it was an extremely competitive space. I remember a few years back trying to wade through half a dozen different baseball video game titles to figure out which one was worth buying. However, a few years back, video game giant EA started signing exclusive deals with a variety of sporting leagues, including the NFL. These exclusive deals supposedly meant that only EA could produce games with the names and stats of real players -- a huge selling point among most fans. And, of course, in gaining exclusivity, EA has completely cashed in. However, a bunch of angry video gamers are now suing the company for anticompetitive conduct, noting that these exclusive deals killed off all the competition, allowing EA to drastically raise its prices.
Next-Gen.Biz writes: The NPD Group has revealed the top 10 selling games of all time in the U.S. market. Forbes reported earlier this week NPD Group's up-to-date top ten U.S. videogame sales figures by units, revealing a list dominated by the Grand Theft Auto and Madden NFL franchises. As seen below, GTA: San Andreas from 2004 is the top-selling game in the U.S. with 9.43 million units sold. The franchise shows up on the top 10 three times, while Madden appears four times. Activision had two 2007 titles already break the top 10 (Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4), while EA had one 2007 title on the list in the form of Madden NFL 08.
Ripten's Chad Lakkis writes: We received a press release today from Electronic Arts, announcing their official prediction for this years Super Bowl, featuring the 18-0 New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants. Lead by quarterback Eli Manning, the surging Giants aim to end the Patriots quest for a perfect 19-0 season, and take home the Lombardi Trophy in the process. However, Tom Terrific Brady and his talented squad of receivers see a different outcome.
The Hollywood Reporter, by Kimberly Nordyke on Jan 16, 2008: Gameplay HD, Rainbow Media's high-definition channel that focuses on video gaming, said Tuesday that it has teamed with Electronic Arts to create a new TV series featuring the 2007 EA Sports Madden Challenge, which took place Dec. 12-13 at Universal Studios. The six-part series -- which premieres Feb. 2, the day before the Super Bowl -- kicks off at 1 p.m. EST with an hourlong preshow introducing each of the 24 tournament finalists, including how they qualified with regional title wins playing Madden NFL 08. New half-hour episodes will continue to air at 1 p.m. EST Saturdays, covering the rounds of the tournament. Episodes also will feature gamer portraits, segments on the Madden video game culture and characters and the strategic plans of all the finalists as they prepare for competition. Gameplay HD, which is one of Rainbow's Voom HD Networks, also is producing a special hourlong episode focusing on the tournament's semifinal and final rounds. The winner of the single-elimination, bracket-style tournament takes home cash and prizes totaling $100,000.
Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey picks what he believes will be the biggest sellers of 2008.
Jan. 2, 2008 -- MSNBC tallied in their Game of the Year readers' votes between December 19 and 27. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare garnered 33 percent of the over 17,000 votes and is MSNBC Readers' Game of the Year. The runner-up was Bioshock at 22 percent of the votes. The second runner-up was Mass Effect at 10 percent. Here are MSNBC readers' picks for the best in each genre: ¿ Best sports game: Madden NFL '08 ¿ Best racing game: Project Gotham Racing 4 ¿ Best casual game: Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree ¿ Best family game: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga ¿ Best music game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock ¿ Best handheld game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass ¿ Best role-playing game: Mass Effect ¿ Best action/adventure game: Bioshock ¿ Best shooter: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare View the full report for the runners-up in each category.
MSNBC video game section has been polling gamers about their favorite games in a number of categories, trying to narrow down the search for the Game of the Year. On Thursday the site put up the poll to decide which of the finalists, culled from the best of each genre, should be named the game of the year. The finalists are: ¿ Madden NFL 08 ¿ Project Gotham Racing 4 ¿ Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree ¿ LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga ¿ Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock ¿ The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass ¿ Mass Effect ¿ Bioshock ¿ Call of Duty 4 At the time of this writing Call of Duty 4 was leading with 31 percent of the vote. BioShock was close behind with 22 percent and Mass Effect was in a distant third with 8.6 percent. [ Words: Kotaku's Brian Crecente ]
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