Madden Anti Trust Lawsuit To Move Foward

[P2K]

Quote: Originally Posted by GTheorenHobbes

Did somebody say that? I admitted I probably wouldn't care as much if Madden had been as good as 2k5 these past 4 years. It wasn't. Maybe this year that will change. We'll see. Either way. The lawsuits against EA roll on. And as these threads show, they're interesting to discuss (at least I think so).

It's insinuated in each of these threads all the time. Again, no problem with ridding of exclusivity. I just can't stand the outright lying some of you are doing. If 2K had exclusivity in football like EA, all this outcry would be downsized ten fold.

I'm sure someone will say "2K would do a better job than EA." Well, go to the NBA 2K9 forum...then come back to me with the same answer. I like 2K9 plenty, but I had to tweak the mess out of that thing to finally enjoy it and that happened just last month. Almost a whole damn year after the thing came out. AND THIS IS WITH COMPETITION. Live is going to steal alot of people like me next year.

[bkfount]

Quote: Originally Posted by JEM

I also agree that if EA ever got/gets hold of the MLB or NBA license then it certainly wouldnt be 3rd party as they are scared to death of competition / not being the best. While I dont care for 2Ks license it is nowhere NEAR as bad as what EA pulled.

That's all a matter of opinion, and mostly based on how you personally view both EA and 2k. I love 2k, as I got pissed as much as anyone when EA killed NFL2k, and I bought APF2k8 day one no questions asked. Yet, to me, seeing 2k release garbage MLB games year after year is worse than what EA's done with their licenses. Madden may not be as good as if they had competition, but the games are still quite enjoyable and haven't slipped to mediocre jokes.

Even if you throw out Gamespot's 45% review of MLB 2k9, it's still a got plenty of poor reviews to earn its 63 on metacritic. If anyone's been mailing it in since getting a license, it's 2k.

[TheWatcher]

APF didn't fail because of a lack of a franchise mode. There were a number of other things it didn't have or simply failed on that killed it, lol.

Franchise mode may have only increased the sales by a couple hundred thousand and that's being optimistic. I WISH lack of franchise mode was it's biggest problem, but that's just not the case. The fact that the conceptual design was perhaps one of the dumbest ever put together, it was doomed no matter what. It was a sad day to see such a once brilliant team make every mistake in the book, then put out a public statement wondering why they failed. They were truly oblivious. A number of people were fired over that debacle with APF, some in marketing (another one of the poorly handled parts of it's campaign for APF).

Then I remember the community manager puts up a thread asking for feedback on the game and about what gamers expect in it... Now mind you, this was LONG AFTER the game had come out and failed. The community at 2K let him have it, and they were right. People had been giving them feedack for years and made it very clear what they expected from APF. They didn't listen and did a bunch of left-field stuff. They really had some nerve to even put up a thread like that. It was eventually abandoned and locked after they'd taken enough shots from the community.

Had 2K gotten the exclusive in 2004, considering where the game was going, I'm pretty sure I would've been happy with their product. It was a great product and I had no intention of turning away from it. But I still would've been displeased with the license being exclusive just because of the loss of competition. I've never agreed with having no competition; it's a breeding ground for complacency. If Madden had been delivering every year since the license however, I think this would be a non-issue for a lot of people, but even the most hardcore Madden fans have had to admit that this product has not gotten it done in a long time. I have not been completely happy with Madden since 1997 with Madden 98. I use to love Madden 64, it was a good game (and still has the coolest TD spikes ever). I thought it sucked that it didn't have the NFL license but because it was a good game I ignored that and enjoyed the hell out of it.

Other companies like 2K have had the opportunity to make a game like that, but they've failed, and really they've done some of it by choice. I remember Jeff Thomas saying that they didn't want to make a game that resembled the NFL, despite the fact that a lot of the fan feedback suggested that they wanted a fully fleshed out Pro League of its own that did indeed resemble the NFL. Had 2K not been, as they said, "concerned with upsetting the NFL..." with having Maximum-Football type total customization (see Maximum Football for PC) and did what's being done with NCAA Teambuilder, I might not even be here on the Madden forums, and I think you could find quite a few people who would be in that group. They had a golden opportunity and they blew it.

[splff3000]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheWatcher

APF didn't fail because of a lack of a franchise mode. There were a number of other things it didn't have or simply failed on that killed it, lol. Franchise mode may have only increased the sales by a couple hundred thousand and that's being optimistic. I WISH lack of franchise mode was it's biggest problem, but that's just not the case. The fact that the conceptual design was perhaps one of the dumbest ever put together, it was doomed no matter what. It was a sad day to see such a once brilliant team make every mistake in the book, then put out a public statement wondering why they failed. They were truly oblivious. A number of people were fired over that debacle with APF, some in marketing (another one of the poorly handled parts of it's campaign for APF). Then I remember the community manager puts up a thread asking for feedback on the game and about what gamers expect in it... Now mind you, this was LONG AFTER the game had come out and failed. The community at 2K let him have it, and they were right. People had been giving them feedack for years and made it very clear what they expected from APF. They didn't listen and did a bunch of left-field stuff. They really had some nerve to even put up a thread like that. It was eventually abandoned and locked after they'd taken enough shots from the community. Had 2K gotten the exclusive in 2004, considering where the game was going, I'm pretty sure I would've been happy with their product. It was a great product and I had no intention of turning away from it. But I still would've been displeased with the license being exclusive just because of the loss of competition. I've never agreed with having no competition; it's a breeding ground for complacency. If Madden had been delivering every year since the license however, I think this would be a non-issue for a lot of people, but even the most hardcore Madden fans have had to admit that this product has not gotten it done in a long time. I have not been completely happy with Madden since 1997 with Madden 98. I use to love Madden 64, it was a good game (and still has the coolest TD spikes ever). I thought it sucked that it didn't have the NFL license but because it was a good game I ignored that and enjoyed the hell out of it. Other companies like 2K have had the opportunity to make a game like that, but they've failed, and really they've done some of it by choice. I remember Jeff Thomas saying that they didn't want to make a game that resembled the NFL, despite the fact that a lot of the fan feedback suggested that they wanted a fully fleshed out Pro League of its own that did indeed resemble the NFL. Had 2K not been, as they said, "concerned with upsetting the NFL..." with having Maximum-Football type total customization (see Maximum Football for PC) and did what's being done with NCAA Teambuilder, I might not even be here on the Madden forums, and I think you could find quite a few people who would be in that group. They had a golden opportunity and they blew it.

great post!! I've never really been on either side of the fence as far as the 2K / EA debate went, but I agree that APF could have been something very special. I remember reading the forums and all people, including myself, wanted was a customizable game that THEY could make to resemble the NFL. Just like the watcher said, they ignored that and did what they wanted. What came of that were abysmal sales numbers and a disgruntled fanbase. It pays to listen when the consumer speaks.

[Swingking77]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkfount

That's all a matter of opinion, and mostly based on how you personally view both EA and 2k. I love 2k, as I got pissed as much as anyone when EA killed NFL2k, and I bought APF2k8 day one no questions asked. Yet, to me, seeing 2k release garbage MLB games year after year is worse than what EA's done with their licenses. Madden may not be as good as if they had competition, but the games are still quite enjoyable and haven't slipped to mediocre jokes. Even if you throw out Gamespot's 45% review of MLB 2k9, it's still a got plenty of poor reviews to earn its 63 on metacritic. If anyone's been mailing it in since getting a license, it's 2k.

Well a lot of the ratings hits has to do not with how bad the 2K baseball game is, though it isn't great, but has everything to do with how great The Show is... A lot of time, with ratings for like products are influenced by what else is out there... With that being said, the ratings for NBA 2K's series has been seeing hits, not only due to game play issues, but because of how much better the NBA Live series has gotten...

[TheDMG]

Quote: Originally Posted by Netherscourge

Call Arlen Spector, he'll take care of this! He's the Anti-Trust champion.

Lol. Arlen Specter's crusades against the NFL have little to do with anti-trust and considerable amount to do with Comcast being both a company seated in his Pennsylvania as well as one of his top campaign contributors. I can't imagine the Senator even mentioning a word about Spygate if the NFL and Comcast hadn't been in the midst of a clash.

[aholbert32]

Supreme Court agreed to hear the American Needle case.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4294204

This isnt necessarily good news though. Even though the NFL won the case on the appeal level, they wanted the Supreme Court to rule on this case. If the SC rules on the side of the NFL that means the end of any class actions or other lawsuits related to the NFL's exclusive deals.

[roadman]

Looks like basketball and hockey are pleading for the courts to side with the NFL.