The Madden Monopoly Lawsuit and the Future of Football Gaming - RaychelSnr's Blog

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The Madden Monopoly Lawsuit and the Future of Football Gaming Stuck

Posted on July 22, 2012 at 04:34 PM.

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The settlement carries major ramifications for football gaming, but some of it is nuanced.

The news that came out on Friday afternoon of a settlement reached by EA and the law firm representing customers in a price fixing lawsuit alleging the actions taken by EA and it's licensing partners were monopolistic.

The immediate ramifications were real: consumers were going to get some of the money they spent on games back if they so chose (I personally am not opting in to it), and EA will not exclusively sign licensing agreements with the NCAA or the AFL for five years after the current deals expire.

In layman's terms, this means that any company can develop an NCAA Football and AFL game upon the completion of the current licensing deals.

I don't think any reasonable person would think EA would unwillingly give up an exclusive license for a deal it wants to keep without much more of a fight which is likely why the NFL exclusive license was retained and not the NCAA license.

Almost certainly, EA saw the foolishness of the NCAA Football exclusive license given the market reality and found that part of the deal expendable. It has been a full decade since someone tried to compete with EA on the NCAA Football front, and since Gamebreaker failed back at the turn of the millennium no one has really mounted a serious and sustained challenge toEA's NCAA Football dominance.

With NCAA Football enjoying de-facto exclusivity, why pay the exclusive premium anyways?

De-Facto Exclusivity

The leadership at EA had to have found ending exclusivity on NCAA perfectly reasonable given the market reality. Almost certainly, no one is going to jump into the NCAA Football development game.

For starters, the cost of developing a game engine and presentational experience on par with the current NCAA Football, despite it's flaws, would be a multi-year effort. Given the amount of teams, the amount of detail needed, and the amount of marketing power and/or game quality superiority needed to actually break even in the endeavor of creating an NCAA Football game, it's doubtful any company is going to be willing to try it.

For an NCAA Football game to be successful commercially, it would have to sell just as many if not more copies than EA's NCAA Football game currently. To do this, you either have to poach (better quality) EA customers or create new customers of NCAA Football games in the order that you'd basically double the market size yourself of what is already a fairly stable but small market.

In short, business wise, there's not much hope of another game actually competing in the NCAA Football genre and actually making money.

With no real commercial appeal, losing the AFL license isn't something to cry over.

AFL A Non-Issue to EA

There has not been a new, major Arena Football League game released in over five years to my recollection. This is due to the simple fact that the Arena Football League has basically floundered and has been on the verge of extinction for a few seasons and it even cancelled it's 2009 season before relaunching in 2010 to some commercial success.

But the league has undoubtedly suffered and it's no longer a marketable brand on a massive Nationwide Scale. So the chances of another company actually picking up the license and running with it in a big-box type of deal is quite slim.

There is, however, a decent chance someone might try to create a smaller, XBLA/Indie type of AFL game -- which is worthy of watching for sure.

The fate of the football gaming free world will be determined in the next year.

The Fate of the NFL License

The real question is, and will be, what happens in the next 12 months or so as Madden's exclusive deal with the NFL ends.

It's worth noting that the NFL initiated the era of exclusivity and basically told companies that they were going to be bidding for one spot in the NFL Development arms race. This poses an interesting dilemma for EA going forward -- as it's clear based upon earlier comments that EA has been less than thrilled about the financial profitability of the NFL's second biggest license.

Remember this quote?

Quote:


	"For one of our core partners in a difficult environment, we say let�s look at this, and maybe it makes some sense to extend something out longer and give our partner some relief in the short term but gain something on the back end,� said Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, chairman of the NFL�s business ventures committee.

It certainly didn't sound like both parties were completely happy with the deal. The NFL cut EA a break on licensing costs last year, but got another year out of the deal -- which if EA were totally happy with the setup would've been the best of every world.

But there is no indication the NFL is going to end their practice of licensing video game rights to more than one company. So it's very likely EA is trying to posture ahead of renegotiations so they can get a better deal this time around.

This next 12-14 months will be key, as EA's exclusive deal with the NFLPA ends this calendar year. So if EA can successfully renegotiate deals on both fronts, it will propel them into the next console generation and any hope any other company might have had of developing an NFL game will be all but gone.

Simply put: the status quo from our end might not be changing.

Revealed Intentions

What the lawsuit settlement really has done is underscore how EA basically see's their gaming properties. NCAA Football ultimately, can be expendable just as it's NCAA Basketball brand was. Given current litigation by the likes of Sam Keller and Ed O'Bannon on player likenesses in EA college games still hanging out there, there's always a chance the NCAA Football franchise could go away if the suit doesn't go EA's way.

As far as the NFL license goes, it's a wait and see. Most likely, the NFL and EA are going to agree to an extension of some sort because the odds of another company wanting to invest into the NFL gaming market on an exclusive basis is not very high and the NFL has shown no interest of divvying out game development rights to more than one company. Thus, EA probably is working on getting as much leverage as possible in order to get a sweeter deal from the NFL as negotiations occur in the next year or so.

But as they say, time will be the judge of that.

Comments

# 1 CuseGirl @ Jul 22

I just want someone, anyone to take EA down a notch. A company with that many mediocre products and with such obvious disdain for its consumer base shouldn't be allowed to win year after year after year. Sickening.

# 2 JMD @ Jul 22

If 2k could pick up where they left off with APF and make an NCAA football game , I'd be very interested. I passed on NCAA 13 this year.

# 3 clipperfan811 @ Jul 22

CuseGirl the only way to do that is for people to stop buying their games, which can be done... The last Madden I purchased was Madden 06 on the Xbox... And honestly my interest in the NFL has been reduced dramatically..

I'm not totally anti EA but I fully agree that lack of competition diminishes the drive from the development team and severely hurts the consumer.

Many people can't stay away and that's fine as well, in the end Madden and to a certain extent NFL football have become irrelevant to me.

Nice blog though Chris.

# 4 capn_razzamataz @ Jul 22

"who cares EA makes the best Football games and will continue to. madden 13 will be the greatest football game out there." - OhioBuckeyes7

I think you mean:
"who cares EA makes the only Football games and will continue to. madden 13 will be the only football game out there."

# 5 THE YAMA @ Jul 22

On a side note, loving the picture of Quincy McDuffie repping UCF.

# 6 rudeworld @ Jul 22

The NFL, who loves competition in all aspect of there sport.... which they know that it makes the game better... But when it comes down to game development their is NO competition and that spoils the actual GAMES WE PLAY. The NFL and EA will renew/extend their contract because they both have the same business model, if you can't beat them... ELIMINATE THE COMPETITION (see USFL and NFL2k for example). I DO MISS THE NFL just as I do NFL2k.... one will come back but lets hope both do.

# 7 mestevo @ Jul 22

The 'difficult environment' referred to by the owner of the Jaguars was the lockout. With that uncertainty it made sense to extend the license a year so it is renegotiated coming off of a successful season rather than negotiating a new contract having just endured a lost season to labor strife.

# 8 tril @ Jul 22

yup in the business of making money EA wins, while 2k stays on the sideline.
Id like to see a cost analysis on producing a game from the ground up, vs taking an existing base and building on it. reason being is, 2k's APF2k8 had a solid base and mechanics, how much more devlopment would it take to bring a full NFL game to market on the existing consoles. Things theyd have to do is
1. update graphics
2. create new broadcast presentation
3. implement a dynasty mode.
That could be year 1 of bringing an NFL title or new footbal game to market.

Most of us priobably wouldnt look for any extra modes to begin with, but the again I could see alot of folks complaining about not having a lot of different modes.

This could even work for college football game.
The thing EA supporters need to realize is APf2k and nfl2k5's game game play mechanics are superior, and EA is still playing catch up.
Most of the things people are asking for in EA's football titles already existed in 2k.

# 9 shadia147 @ Jul 22

t's amazing to me how the NFL bends over backwards to give us an NFL Network (Which promotes ther product in the most positive way possible), New Blackout Rules (Which promotes their product in the most positive way possible), The NFL Redzone (Which """"""""""""Possible), more weeknight games (Etc Etc Etc) and so on, and yet still allows EA to put out a product that is the antithesis of everything the NFL stands for.
Maybe the villian isnt EA afterall. Maybe this is just sheer negligence by the Marketing Department of the NFL. It's one thing for EA to continue putting out a shoddy product, its a whole another thing for the NFL to continue to allow it.

# 10 huntt26 @ Jul 22

I don't like EA, but not having an NCAA football game at all will really, really suck. I hope it doesn't come to that.

# 11 statum71 @ Jul 22

Huge college football fan. I for one really hope it doesn't suffer the fate of basketball..........no game at all.

# 12 reginald_rush @ Jul 23

I just want a good college football game!

# 13 khaliib @ Jul 23

I don't understand how folks talk about EA's football games as though they've met current genre standards.

NCAA was far behind compared to other sports games to date, not on par.
The issue was it was only allowed to be compared against itself and not other games.
Doing so on many forums was met with thread deletes, warnings and in some cases bans.

I believe lifting the game up now, because the license is gone, as though it is/has been on par with other sports games, is an insult to those genre standard games and the body of work that displayed talent and abilities.

Plain and simple, the gaming community was taken to the cleaners with the NCAA Series this entire generation of console.
For that, I'm glad they will not be able to do it with the generation of consoles after these.

I will disagree with you concerning no College Football because of this very fact.

It might not be in the next year or two, but someone will take a stab at bringing an alternative football to EA on the Next Gen of consoles.

I still don't understand why people think a generic football game with full customization and slightly better gameplay and presentation than any EA football would not sell.

The one factor that folks don't consider when utilizing past sales figures as to why another football game wouldn't sale, is that there is a desperate desire to see/play a football game not made by EA due to 7 yrs growing discontent, dissatisfaction and complaining with their football games that have not showcased the advancement to equal or surpass the standards set by other sports games in the genre.

My thought is that I've purchased EA football games knowing little to nothing major was done to the game, so paying for another developers football game just to see what it's like, would be done without hesitation.
.
I don't think I would be too far off in saying many in the community would also fall into the same boat

# 14 Super Glock @ Jul 23

So if I understand this correctly, there will always be one NFL game whether it be Madden or 2K due to the fact that the NFL will only sign an exclusive deal.

# 15 Super Glock @ Jul 23

Looks like there will never be competition for NFL video games.

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