Obiwan you asked:
"I'm still waiting for you to tell me how the acquisition of exclusive licenses is unethical."
You're stating, as fact, that EA performs unethical business practices, but you haven't listed one legitimate action EA has taken that is unethical by the standard of law."
"Business ethics is the branch of ethics that examines ethical rules and principles within a commercial context; the various moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business setting; and any special duties or obligations that apply to persons who are engaged in commerce. Those who are interested in business ethics examine various kinds of business activities and ask, "Is the conduct ethically right or wrong?"
Business ethics is a form of applied ethics, a branch of philosophy. As such, it takes the ethical concepts and principles developed at a more theoretical, philosophical level, and applies them to specific business situations. Generally speaking, business ethics is a normative discipline, whereby particular ethical standards are assumed and then applied. It makes specific judgements about what is right or wrong, which is to say, it makes claims about what ought to be done or what ought not to be done. While there are some exceptions, business ethicists are usually less concerned with the foundations of ethics (metaethics), or with justifying the most basic ethical principles, and are more concerned with practical problems and applications, and any specific duties that might apply to business relationships."
Ethics is defined as:
"Main Entry: eth·ic
Pronunciation: 'e-thik
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ethik, from Middle French ethique, from Latin ethice, from Greek EthikE, from Ethikos
1 plural but singular or plural in construction : the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation
2 a : a set of moral principles or values b : a theory or system of moral values
c plural but singular or plural in construction : the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group d : a guiding philosophy"
Obiwan, you are mis-stating the discussion. The question is not whether what ea did is legally impermissable, the question is whether it can perceived to be ethical or not. Legal and ethical are two different things. Also, no one is saying that acquiring licenses is unethical, what I am saying is that in my opinion the way ea went about acquiring it was unethical, the purpose was unethical, and the way they have conducted themselves in regards to their own fans/consumers can be perceived to be unethical, all in my opinion of course.
Any discussion involving ethics and business should begin with the concepts of capitalism, competition, and monopolies. Without defining each, we should be able to come to an agreement that free competition is the lifes blood of capitalism, if a man or company builds a better mouse trap then the world (consumer) should be allowed to beat a path to his door. I am of the view that ea has intentionally interferred with the ability of the consumer to beat a path to the door of a company that made a better mouse trap. Why? Because technically what they have done is created a monopoly in the sports gaming arena. Sure the law will not recognize that a monopoly exists because the law due to technical nuasenses looks at video gaming as a whole. But one could make a carve out for sports video games based on the economic realities that exist within it. We know that madden, 2k, etc. are system game sellers. They rake in money in the billions of dollars, any genre of gaming that effects every other genre, and shifts the very reason consumers buy one console over the other in my opinion is an individual entity and should be viewed as such.
ea in its business strategy attempted to kill competition with is exclusive license, the reasons for my thinking on this has been mentioned ad nauseam. The intent of their business strategy was unethical, lack of competition committs violence against capitalism.
ea lied to its consumers, this game is supposedly built from the ground up, well, I have played the game, it basically is the same core gameplay with better graphics with the same old problems toned down. They also mislead consumers with the cg screens and video that were advertised way back when, that is false advertising which is unethical. Also, to remove features and modes and to release a half baked product and charge more for it is unconsionable.
The way in which the procured the license (through an open bid..yeah right) was unethical, if you take the situation as I have. Ask yourself one question, how can a bid be open when you know beforehand that ea has the most money and will definitely when the bid? Please answer that. Now if the bid was in fact legit then this point is irrelevant, but again, please answer the question.
Apply the definitions to my discussion, then you will have why I say ea has conducted itself in a unethical fashion. Consumers need to be smarter so that balance and competition can come back to video football gaming.