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.
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.
His days of calling NFL games on T.V. may be over, but John Madden's retirement might not be as idyllic as he had hoped.
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.
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.
Dimorphic360 writes:
GotFrag.com Madden will release the second edition of its Madden Top 50 on March 1, 2008. In last year's top 50, Eric "Problem" Wright ranked in at No. 1 and that is not expected to change as he recently took this year's Player's Bowl in Philadelphia. However, with strong performances from Dan "Truth Brown, Big Game James and other lower ranked Madden players, how will that shift the rankings?
Madden NFL 08 has passed the 2 million mark in sales and becomes the 12th Xbox 360 game to do so, increasing the consoles lead over its competitors.