14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has had a lot of success with its Madden NFL franchise. The game sold very well every year since it was released and its launch date is a cause for celebration and queues every year for gamers. Sony, one of the big three console manufacturers, is rumored to even be using this year's date as an occasion to cut the price of the PlayStation 3.
But the same series is also a source of headaches for its publisher, with a class action suit being opened against Electronic Arts by two players, Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence, who are accusing it of using a monopolistic strategy to eliminate competition from the NFL 2K series, made by Take Two, so that it could then benefit from a higher sales price for its own product.
And one of the witnesses for the two players, who is an economics professor at the University of Michigan, has even managed to put a value on the amount of extra money extracted from players by Electronic Arts. Doctor Jeffrey MacKie-Mason has filled a document with the United States District Court in San Francisco saying that players overpaid for the Madden games 701 million to 926 million dollars more than they should have. This sum is a direct result of the inability of Take Two to compete.
Electronic Arts hit back by saying that “EA respectfully submits that Dr. MacKie-Mason's analysis is fundamentally flawed on multiple levels. Indeed, Dr. MacKie-Mason's estimated magnitude of damages is nothing more than pure fiction - it has no basis in fact or law.”
For the moment, the judge in the case has allowed the case to go forward and the two plaintiffs are able to gather more evidence against the monopoly instituted by Electronic Arts. The publisher is also facing suits from players related to the way they are portrayed in Madden NFL and in NCAA Football.