Maddenopoly
posted Sunday Jul 19, 2009 by Nicholas DiMeo
It seems that the universities of this country have lately been known for their reports, research and claims on crazy subject matter. This week's case comes out of the University of Michigan, where economics professor Dr. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason has estimated that the neo-communistic game company, EA, cumulatively overcharged Madden buyers between $701 million and $926 million during the years 2006 through 2009.
This outrageous claim is based off of the fact that EA now owns the licensing rights to the NFL, after outbidding then-rival 2k/TakeTwo for the purchase back in 2005. The professor recognized that his estimates are gathered on incomplete data, but has insisted that this buyout eliminated the competing NFL 2k series.
MacKie-Mason was called upon by lawyers representing Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence, a pair of gamers who are named as the plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the S.S.. I mean, EA.
His theory is that EA would raise retail prices for their Madden franchise whenever sales for the 2k series would decline, thus creating a monopoly on the product. EA would then lower the price back to the niche of $29.95, which was the price of the 2k games at the time. He writes,
When Take-Two was able to compete unhindered, Madden NFL's competitive price was in the range of $19.95 to $29.95. I assume for this exercise that these would have been Madden's prices but for the alleged {monopolistic} acts.
Under normal lawsuit filings, the initial submission for the court hearing usually contain facts, figures and logically based allegations. But EA, per usual, has decided to showcase why they go against the grain by submitting this response to the claims.
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.
It seems as this monopoly suit will move forward, but will be contained inside of California and Washington, D.C., the residences of Pecover and Lawrence.
While I am an avid Madden player myself and will live and die by the franchise, I must say that something needs to give and EA needs to finally recognize the lack of progress the game has made after the exclusivity deal was reached.
What do you think? Is EA at fault for monopolistic activities or is it simply a pair of gamers butthurt over the fact that their self-proclaimed, holier than thou 2k series bit the dust?
