$27 Million Settlement Announced in EA Madden Price-fixing Lawsuit

Attorneys representing purchasers of Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) (“EA”) football video games have reached a proposed settlement over claims that the gaming giant violated antitrust and consumer protection laws and overcharged consumers for the games.

[ftwrthtx]

PS2 purchasers get more money than this generation purchasers.

[vortis]

That's because this gen suffered from recyclitis and EA just lied and said dev costs when up when in reality they've just been recycling garbage just like Activision and CoD.

[TerminalGamer]

Didn't This gen cost more than last gen?

[detroitmademe]

hell yea they overcharge consumers.just got done watching E3 vid of madden 13& i couldnt help buut feel a little underwhelmed.the running looks a little wierd,character animation is clunky,instead of fixing the audio issues they just changed announcers,gus johnson&chris collinsworth wasnt the problem,the problem is getting them to say things at the right time&not being so repetitive with thier lines.this is coming from someone who owned madden 10&bought madden 11&12.Ill probably buy madden 13 because megatron's on the cover&connected careers sounds like a step n the right direction but this will def be the last 1 I buy at least till next console gen.Im a fan of Madden but im ready to see wat 2k&everyone else can do.You shouldnt beat your competition by having a larger piggy bank,beat them with the quality of your games,they did it with fifa.I mean Madden 13 isn't just a roster update,but it isn't a drastic update either.competition will either b good 4 EA or it'll expose them.Also how will these refunds work,$6 dollars for all last-gen Madden games you own or...?

[detroitmademe]

& if you bought last years madden,thier should be a discount for next years game.

[WeskerChildReborned]

I say yearly sequels like sports and COD should only be 39.99 each year.

[Soldierone]

COD should be an expansion pack not a game for 39.99....

Imagine if you could keep all your stats running through each COD....A "new" game shouldn't be warranted unless it is either 90 percent "different" (COD to Singularity) or using a new engine, and at the very least have a development time of several years with a single player mode that lasts 8 or more hours.

Otherwise it should be classified as an expansion pack and be sold at 40 dollars.....

[WeskerChildReborned]

@Soldierone Yea that's an interesting idea but i think that really won't work out. I say they should make a free to play game on consoles and PC where they sell expansion packs.

[ftwrthtx]

I like the idea of a free-to-play game with expansion packs added on later. With quite a bit of content being digital now, that system would make the most sense.

[GanjaMan]

cod and fifa and few games more game when released are discounted to £25 here in supermarkets for the first week or two, im sure america have similar offers for cod and maddam?

[dcbronco]

@GanjaMan

Not really. You might find a $20 credit. But games like Madden and CoD usually don't offer much. They know people are going to buy them anyway.

[TheColbertinator]

At least we get NCAA from someone else again

[titans9999]

why cant there be another NFL game from another company?

[Disturbedrebel]

Cause EA bought the rights from the NFL.

[ftwrthtx]

Yep

[black911]

When does EA's NFL deal end?

[Soldierone]

Never. Unless Madden quits selling well.....

They will just renew it everytime it ends. Since they already own the agreement, they get a heads up, plus they will put more money into it than any other company....

unless the NFL stops being greedy (LMAO!!!) then Madden will continue to be the only football game you see for at least the next 10 years.

[DeadlyFire]

@black911
At the moment its 2013 for NFL, but that could get extended further and further as always by EA. I don't know if this court settlement blocks them from grabbed exclusive rights next time for a set period or not though. Says 5 years before can grab exclusive rights to AFL or NCAA after they run out. It would be nice if NFL was in there too, but its up in the air at the moment and not final just yet.

http://www.windycitygridiro...

[Tw1st3d Fate]

Corporate greed.

[TerminalGamer]

Hopefully this will make EA step up their development and start making real improvements every year.

[chuckyj1]

blah...$1.97 per title bought..not worth my time. But, I am happy that they will not renew NCAA for 5 yrs. after 2014...Too bad that doesn't go for the NFL though...Looks like I wont be buying an NFL licensed game for the distant future.

College Football I never had a problem with because I thought EA made the best college game.

But, I also thought EA made the worst NFL game...Which, is why I will not buy another NFL licensed game made by EA.

I just don't think 1 company should own all the exclusive rights...

But, too each their own I suppose.

[azshorty2003]

Whoo hooo! $1.97! I'm gonna eat off the dollar menu tonight!!

[whitesoxfalife1976]

burger and drink yep lmao

[dcbronco]

I'm not sure what the point was. This was about Madden, not NCAA or AFL. If the deal violated the law, then the deal must end. It sounds like the changes are only for the other products. If this settlement is allowed it is another example of how poor our court system is.

[Emilio_Estevez]

I'ma get about 20 bucks for this, but how will that work. Show up with my games? Do I need a receipt? Need some more answers. Also, EA hasn't even responded to the settlement, let alone accept it. I doubt they will accept it.

[ftwrthtx]

If the judge approves it, EA has no say in the matter.

[dcbronco]

If the judge approves it he is corrupt. A judge shouldn't approve anything that will continue the crime at the heart of the case. He would be saying "Yes they stole from you, and yes they will be allowed to steal from you in the future, but here is a very small payment for what they stole in the past".

They stole $40 for every copy sold. 2K was charging $20 and had set the price. In order to continue to pad their profits and keep making their cheesy game, EA paid off the NFL for exclusivity and killed the competition. They should owe that $40 plus interest. And punitive damages.

It amazes me that people willing stand by as corporations steal, get find a fraction of what they stole and go back to business doing the same thing. If a person steals 25 million and has the money, the police don't say give back 5 million and go home. You have to pay it all back and go to jail. If corporations want to be treated like people, treat them like people.

[whitesoxfalife1976]

right cuz i k now dont have none from when i bought dem maddens in them yrs

[jayman1]

This is some lawfirm scam to get a huge settlement out of ea.This is the dumbest thing I ever heard of.How in the hell would you prove you bought the game lol.No one saves receipts for that long and who would even bother to call and get the 6.95 or 1.95 refund.The effort let alone the call is not even worth your time.These bloodsucking lawyers will just put up tons of redtape and keep the money!27 million dollars ridiculous waste and EA will just pass the loss to the customer.DAMN LAWYERS!

[jayman1]

The funny thing is we all go out and buy these games.We all know we are paying 60 70 bucks for a game brand new. I dont see how ea stole from anyone they didnt put a gun to anyones head and say go buy the game.The madden series has sold at the same price as all other game releases throughout there history of releasing madden.It's not EA's fault that they have a blockbuster on there hands.They probably nabbed EA for not having fair business practices with these contracts with the NFL, NCAA and AFL.In other words they didnt give other companies the right to compete and or make games with these contracts.

[donscrillinger]

Where The UCk my MONEY @ E.A. ..this ia the best newzs all year ,now we just need 2k to be able to make NFL game again ,we miss true SIM football :-(

[TerminalGamer]

Hopefully the judge will rule on this soon and EA will have to lower the price of Madden 13

[TerminalGamer]

Still waiting on the judge's response.