EA Sports Class Action Lawsuit (?)

[Springfield]

Has anybody heard about this? I received an email about a class action lawsuit against EA Sports. I don't really care, but I know there is a lot of hatred on ES against EA in regards to their Madden franchise. Could be just another bogus, spam email. It sounded interesting to me though.

What says the ES gamers?

GEOFFREY PECOVER and ANDREW OWENS v. ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.

U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.)

Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW

If You Purchased Certain Electronic Arts Brand Football Video Games

Between January 1, 2005 to the Present

You May Be a Class Member.

Membership as a class member in the Electronic Arts Litigation is the result of a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division (Case No. 08-cv-02820 CW).

What Is This Class Action About? The class action lawsuit alleges violations of California's antitrust and consumer protection laws in connection with the sale of certain football video games. Plaintiffs, purchasers of Electronic Arts' football video games, claim that Defendant Electronic Arts entered into a series of exclusive licenses with the National Football League (NFL), National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA), National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and Arena Football League (AFL), which Plaintiffs claim foreclosed competition in an alleged football video game market. Plaintiffs allege that this series of exclusive licenses caused customers who purchased certain football video games to be overcharged.

Defendant Electronic Arts has denied any liability and all allegations of misconduct. The Court has not decided whether the Defendants did anything wrong, and this Notice is not an expression of any opinion by the Court about the merits of any of the claims or defenses asserted by any party to this litigation.

Who Are Class Members? The Class includes all persons who, during the period January 1, 2005 to the present, purchased the Madden NFL, NCAA Football, or Arena Football League brand video games published by Electronic Arts with a release date of January 1, 2005 to the present. Excluded from the class are purchasers of software for mobile devices, persons purchasing directly from Electronic Arts, persons purchasing used copies of the relevant football video games, and Electronic Arts' employees, officers, directors, legal representatives, and wholly or partly owned subsidiaries or affiliated companies.

What Should I Do? (Getting Further Information) If you believe that you may be a class member (see above "Who Are Class Members"), you should get more detailed information about the class action and its potential effect on you and your rights. Further information can be obtained by going to the following website: www.easportslitigation.com. Additional information about the lawsuit may be obtained from Plaintiffs' Counsel website at www.hbsslaw.com, or by calling Plaintiffs' Counsel at 1-206-623-7292.

To Remain a Class Member If you are a class member and you do nothing, you will be bound by the court's rulings in the lawsuit, including any final Settlement or Judgment.

To Exclude Yourself from the Class (Deadline to Request Exclusion: June 25, 2011) If you are a class member and you want to exclude yourself from the class and keep your right to sue Defendant, you must take further action before June 25, 2011. By that date, you must request exclusion in writing to this address:

Electronic Arts Litigation Exclusion

P.O. Box 8090

San Rafael CA 94912-8090

Or submit a request for exclusion electronically at the following website: www.easportslitigation.com

For further information about excluding yourself from the class go to the following website:

www.easportslitigation.com

Please do not telephone or address inquiries to the Court.

April 6, 2011. By Order of the U.S. District Court (N.D. Cal. - Oakland Div.).

[ixcuincle]

Lot of people peeved that EA took monopolistic rights to NFL games. Big 2k fans.

I don't care because I occasionally play Madden 2008 with a highly revamped Redskins roster on my PC. But I can see why people would get mad, Madden has provided little new and the franchise is starting to anger gamers.

[skinfan2k]

i got this as an email but i didn't know if it was legit. what is the purpose of this?

[PokerPacker]

curious where they got my email. Only thing I can think of is PSN account?

[Springfield]

i got this as an email but i didn't know if it was legit. what is the purpose of this?

I didn't know if it was legit either. Instead of a google search, I decided to post it to ES and see what you guys thought. I honestly don't know what it will accomplish other than getting money out of EA if successful. The complaint is that "Plaintiffs allege that this series of exclusive licenses caused customers who purchased certain football video games to be overcharged."

So they were "overcharged"... doesn't seem like much of a trust-buster operation to me.

---------- Post added April-6th-2011 at 10:14 PM ----------

curious where they got my email. Only thing I can think of is PSN account?

You give EA your email when you create an EA account if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps it's from the EA database.

[skinfan2k]

well have u guys ever bought something from easports.com, I bought a copy of madden from there a couple of years ago

[Springfield]

well have u guys ever bought something from easports.com, I bought a copy of madden from there a couple of years ago

Never. It's always been Gamestop or Best Buy for me.

It also says that you are omitted from the class action lawsuit if you bought directly from EA.

[ixcuincle]

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/04/madden-class-action-suit-ea/

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who holds two law degrees, cast heavy doubt on the the legal action’s chances for success.

“I think that the suit is idiotic, and would bet it’s dismissed,” he said in an e-mail to Wired.com.

Exclusive intellectual-property licenses are commonplace across the games industry, Pachter noted. “Marvel doesn’t license Spider-Man to multiple movie studios or game companies, and they don’t have to,” he said, adding that consumers are not being overcharged since new Madden games are sold at the same suggested retail price as sports games that are not licensed exclusively. The original list prices for EA’s exclusive Madden NFL 11 and Take-Two’s nonexclusive NBA 2K11 were both $60.

Although it's ridiculous that Madden has exclusive rights and continues to put out a sub-par product year after year since 08, it's probably legal. Deal with it

[IONTOP]

I'm guessing this is a first of its kind lawsuit which prohibits real life organizations from giving full rights to one company. Like if the Gran Turismo series got exclusive licenses with EVERY SINGLE car company...

Because gamers demand a certain amount of reality over gameplay...

Hell imagine if the Call of Duty franchise licensed Marines, AF, Army, and Navy to put into their games... Well... I hope you liked Black Ops because that's what you're stuck with for the next 5 years...

[PokerPacker]

You give EA your email when you create an EA account if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps it's from the EA database.

Oh, right, that makes sense.

As for the merits of the case, I'm not sure about it. I mean, can you monopolize a professional sport league? Football games can still be made, just without real players and teams.

[Fan since a Fetus]

I figured this was a good place to post this. I do not play Tiger Woods golf, but according to the IGN reveiw, the game comes with 16 courses. There are 25 extra downloadable courses. I could be wrong on the numbers, but they are close. When you do career mode, certain courses can only be obtained through downloads. When you reach that course in your career, it prompts you to download that course or you can skip it. If you skip it, fine, but really your career is unfinished because you were not able to play all of the courses. I am not sure how much additional courses cost.

I think that is horse ****. Imagine playing Madden and reaching week 12 and it tells you that you need to download the Vikings stadium and roster in order to finish the season.

If this is the way gaming is headed, and we all know EA rules, then I am going to quit playing. They have already ruined football for me. The only thing I play is franchise and they have not fixed that in years. It was better on the PS2.

[CrypticVillain]

I figured this was a good place to post this. I do not play Tiger Woods golf, but according to the IGN reveiw, the game comes with 16 courses. There are 25 extra downloadable courses. I could be wrong on the numbers, but they are close. When you do career mode, certain courses can only be obtained through downloads. When you reach that course in your career, it prompts you to download that course or you can skip it. If you skip it, fine, but really your career is unfinished because you were not able to play all of the courses. I am not sure how much additional courses cost.

I think that is horse ****. Imagine playing Madden and reaching week 12 and it tells you that you need to download the Vikings stadium and roster in order to finish the season.

If this is the way gaming is headed, and we all know EA rules, then I am going to quit playing. They have already ruined football for me. The only thing I play is franchise and they have not fixed that in years. It was better on the PS2.

Yeah, they are getting carried away with the DLCs. I was okay paying for map packs and stuff, but EA is the one that is getting a little bit too carried away with their add-ons. That 10 bucks to play Madden on line is bananas.

I was wondering how these idiots got my e-mail too. I thought it was fake, but my friend says it is real.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Let's see, the Supreme Court just tossed the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit because it had too many plaintiffs, why should we think that this one will be any different?

BTW, I hate the EA/NFL exclusive contract.

[Fan since a Fetus]

Yeah, they are getting carried away with the DLCs. I was okay paying for map packs and stuff, but EA is the one that is getting a little bit too carried away with their add-ons. That 10 bucks to play Madden on line is bananas.

I was wondering how these idiots got my e-mail too. I thought it was fake, but my friend says it is real.

The whole email thing. They got mine through PSN. When you download a demo, they automatically get your email. They send me crap all the time. I keep telling them to stop, but they keep sending.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Got this email yesterday as well. I haven't bought Madden in like 5 years. Don't care. I'm content playing NBA2K and MLB the Show.