04-06-2011, 11:57 PM
|
#30
|
Hall Of Fame
OVR: 51
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 37,284
|
Re: Lawsuit Against EA Sports?
Oh and although I've stated this a million times EA's football games are by no means a monopoly. By the very definition of monopoly posted above it's not got a monopoly here.
Football is the commodity, the NFL/NCAA is a brand. EA can't stop anyone from making a football game and others have been made, All Pro Football, NFL Blitz, Backbreaker, etc. What EA can do is stop anyone from making an NFL or NCAA branded football game and that is by choice of the NFL and NCAA in agreement with, and getting paid by EA for those BRAND rights.
Dictionary.com definitions for monopoly:
1. exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices.
2. an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.
3. the exclusive possession or control of something.
4. something that is the subject of such control, as a commodity or service.
5. a company or group that has such control.
6. the market condition that exists when there is only one seller.
Oh and Kaiser Wilhelm: On one hand you admit that there are other football games (Backbreaker) and then on the other you accuse EA stopping other football games from being made. That contradicts itself. Also, you point out that other companies can't afford to enter the market without bankrupting themselves. How is that EA's fault? The fact is that applies to all kinds of products and services in our everyday lives. I can't afford to start a fast food chain of restaurants that could challenge McDonalds but that doesn't mean McDonalds is monopolizing the fast food industry and stopping me from doing so. That argument makes no sense.
And not only does it make no sense in that capacity but it's wrong in another, there are plenty of companies around who could, if they wanted to, get into the football game making business. They choose not to do so because sports titles are expensive to launch from the ground up and an annual release schedule of the game necessitates a very difficult yearly turn around on titles. Witness Microsofts football game, they did it for a while. In fact the first party manufacturers all could make an NFL or NCAA game if they so desired, that's in the contract with the NFL and NCAA but Microsoft and Sony simply choose not to as the profit margin is slim and sports games have been decreasing in popularity for years now.
|
|
|