14 DAY TRIAL // A judge based in the United States has certified the class action anti trust lawsuit that was brought against publisher Electronic Arts because of the way it has used its exclusive licensing rights for the National Football League to inflate prices on its sports simulation series of games.
Vaughn Walker, who is a judge with the United States District Court, has ruled that those customers who have bought the Electronic Arts made Madden NFL, NCAA for Arena Football titles on the PC or on gaming console starting with 2005 and until now can become plaintiffs in the upcoming class action suit that is handled by Hagens Berman.
Steve Berman, who is a partner at law firm Hagens Berman, has issued a statement which reads, “We believe EA forced consumers to pay an artificial premium on Madden NFL video games.”
He added, “We intend to prove that EA could inflate prices on their sports titles because these exclusive licenses restrained trade and competition for interactive sports software.”
The judge issued reports says that in 2004 players who were interested in American football simulation could choose between the Madden series and the NFL 2K5 game from Take Two, competition which forced EA to cut the price of its own title.
Once the publisher and the NLF signed their exclusive agreement gamers had no choice but to pick up Electronic Arts made games for the price point which it decided, rising over the years from 49.95 dollars to 59.95 for the current generation of consoles.
The Madden and NCAA series are big money makers for Electronic Arts and the NFL game practically marks the beginning of the big video games release season when it arrives in August.
But the franchise is also a source of trouble for the publisher, which in addition to the illegal pricing suit also has to defend itself against allegations that it has unlawfully used likenesses for some players.