Originally Posted by bowener (Post 8823702)

It isn't a monopoly. Mecca is correct. No, I am not a lawyer, nor do I claim to be. This just simply isn't a monopoly. EA bought the rights to use NFL names/images. 2K can go out and make a football game that looks similar to EA's madden if they wish (just not too similar), they just don't have permission to use any trademarked images/names the NFL owns.

Hell, 2K can probably make a game that is called "Pro Football 2013", which has 32 teams in 31 cities (2 in NYC), each active roster would have 53 men, etc... as long as they don't have a team in Arizona called the "Arizona Cardinals". They can have a team in KC as long as it is something like, "the KC Cherokees" or something. I'm not sure if they could use the same NFL color schemes for each team tho.

I'm surprised somebody like 2K hasn't made this game where the owners of the game are allowed to customize everything, including editing images/rosters/player names, stadium names, etc. I know they wouldn't make much money on it being a yearly release since you could just edit the previous one to play like a new game.



Sega and 2K can make another pro football simulator if they wish, they just can't use anything trademarked by the NFL.

Do you think Warner Bros. has a monopoly over Batman films? They own the exclusive rights to produce Batman films. I'm sure FOX would love to be able to make a Batman film, but unfortunately they do not have the exclusive rights to do so... much like Sega/2K.

Originally Posted by jd1020 (Post 8823728)

Get back to me when a company makes such a game and it actually attracts buyers. EA owns the football genre and everyone knows it. No company is going to make an unofficial sim because they can't compete with the real thing. EA would still control the market and it would still be a monopoly because they have exclusive rights to the product.

Why did EA just settle a lawsuit complaining about their exclusive rights if there wasn't a monopoly? Hell... they are paying back customers who bought the game after 2005 because of this.

Originally Posted by bowener (Post 8823738)

You just answered this yourself. It is not a ****ing monopoly. Any other company is free to make a football game. They just can't make one using the NFL's trademarked images/names. It isn't EA's problem if 2K can't make a profit. I am not a fan of this at all, but that is the cut and dry of this. One company has a ton of money and can afford to throw it around to make more money for themselves.

And I do not know anything about the law suit, except for the fact that they settled and did not lose. If they lost then it could have been a monopoly. This just tells me they realized settling would net them more profit in the long term. Plus, if there was a legitimate monopoly suit filed against them it couldn't be settled, it would be handed down by the ****ing US government, not private companies or consumers...

Originally Posted by jd1020 (Post 8823748)

How is it not? 1 company controls the ****ing market.

Next are you going to tell me that Microsoft just stopped making football games because it wasn't profitable enough? Or how that after EA was given exclusive rights the price from NFL 2k went from 19.99 to 49.99 for Madden?

EA controls the market and the pricing. That is a monopoly. Look up the definition.

Originally Posted by Fruit Ninja (Post 8823801)

That 19.99 argument is dumb. 2K did that for one reason and one reason only, to get their name out. They did it for ALL their sports games that year, and they never ever sold anything full game that cheap again. It worked, the problem is the NFL wanted to go exclusive like they do with ALL their licenses. Jerseys, helmets, you name it, its exclusive.

EA just had deeper pockets then 2K, and considering 2K sold a ****ton of assets a few years back thats sitting in the bank collecting interest, they have money to throw at the football license if the NFL doesnt extend it again.

Originally Posted by jd1020 (Post 8823854)

Even if they didn't keep the 19.99 price there would still be competition to make a quality game at a competitive price. EA had to drop its retail price to 29.95 in 2005 but went right back up to 49.99 the next year after signing exclusive rights.

Personally I think the NFL should be banned from allowing exclusive deals when it comes to video games. It's not the same as uniforms for the teams in your league. It doesn't really benefit the league it just benefits the company holding the rights. The NFL takes a cut off of any sale of a product using their logo, names, blah blah blah. The company with the exclusive rights can sell it for whatever they want and take a cut off of everyone wanting a NFL game because there is no other company out there making one and they have no incentive to improve. They just sell the same shit from the previous year with new players.

Originally Posted by lcarus (Post 8824228)

Whats funny is even when EA didn't have exclusive rights there were only a couple other companies that made NFL football games. It isnt like there were dozens of NFL games in 2005 then just one. There was basically Madden and 2K. Blitz wasnt even still around when EA got exclusive were they?

Originally Posted by lcarus (Post 8824228)

Whats funny is even when EA didn't have exclusive rights there were only a couple other companies that made NFL football games. It isnt like there were dozens of NFL games in 2005 then just one. There was basically Madden and 2K. Blitz wasnt even still around when EA got exclusive were they?

Originally Posted by Bump (Post 8823809)

if it's not a monopoly why did EA settle? Shouldn't a judge just throw it out if it's not a monopoly? Granted I haven't looked into this much, lol. But if you shell out the money, you can have a legal monopoly in America. Yankees are another example of that.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/21/ea-s...opoly-lawsuit/

EA settles Madden monopoly lawsuit

A class-action lawsuit claiming EA Sports’ exclusive on the NFL football license constitutes an illegal monopoly has been finalized.

What this means, is that consumers who purchased a Madden product from EA between 2005 and today on PS3, Wii or Xbox 360, they can get $1.95 back as part of the suit. If it’s a Madden game for GameCube, PS2, or Xbox, they can get $6.79.

The lawsuit also puts a five-year ban on an exclusive license between EA Sports and the NCAA once the current contract expires in 2014. The last NCAA football game released by a company other than EA was Sega’s College Football 2K3 10 years ago. EA can sign any non-exclusive deal with the NCAA after 2014.

EA Sports also can’t sign any exclusive licensing contracts with the Arena Football League for five years.

The lawsuit, Pecover vs. Electronic Arts, was filed in July 2008 and claimed the NFL license not only allowed EA to raise game prices by 70%, but killed off the NFL 2K series, and any other football game based on US football based around real teams – forcing consumers to only purchase EA Sports video game products.

EA is setting aside $27 million for the suit.

Thanks, Kotaku.