Football fans have been stuck with games from only one licensed developer since 2006 when Electronic Arts secured exclusive rights to both the NFL and NCAA football licenses. In fact, EA's complete lack of competition in these areas borders on monopoly. And this being America, someone has decided to take them to court for that.

Last year, two gamers from California and Washington, D.C., Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence, filed a class action lawsuit in  California accusing Electronic Arts of "blatantly anticompetitive conduct" since 2004. That was the year that the rivalry between EA Sports Madden series and Take-Two's NFL 2K series came to a head, as the competition resulted in significant price drops for both series, Madden down to $29.95 and NFL 2K down to $19.99. The following year, however, EA Sports secured exclusive rights to develop games with the NFL license, and has since raised prices to $49.95 and then to $59.95 as a result of being the only game of its kind on the market.

GamePolitics reported yesterday that Electronic Arts' motion to dismiss the case was denied by Judge Vaughn Walker. In his ruling, the judge cited "interactive football software" as subject to antitrust laws, thus making EA susceptible to the lawsuit:

"As the court understands these allegations, interactive football software will not sell if it does not use the names, logos and other markers of teams that actually compete in the NFL; there is, in effect, no market for interactive football software in a virtual or fictitious setting. If true —— as the court must at this point accept —— this adequately alleges that there are no substitutes for interactive football software without the markers of actual teams and players."

Pecover and Lawrence's case is scheduled for class certification on September 24, while the full hearing is scheduled to begin on January 10, 2010.

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iamturbonium said:

... Finalllllyyyyyyyy.... EA makes a decent football game, but I liked it much better when they used to compete with 2k. Remember NFL 2k5? In my opinion one of the best sports games every made. So I wont try to come off like a crazy fanboy, but my main point is the product is always more innovative and polished when there is healthy competition. A 2011 NFL matchup between EA and 2k would be a dream come true.

June 09, 2009