Your right, it wouldn't be as much of an outcry, there should have been tho. Looking back to the original deal, I think I was one of the few guys who were playing Madden 05 and still was really upset about it.
To this day it amazes me how many madden fans seem to relish in the idea that Madden is the only option. I often ask myself if these guys have ever popped in Madden 08 or 09 on ps2 and noticed how much less Madden 11 on current system actually delivered? And they get charged an additional $10-20 to play the new version.
Imo, we have the exclusive license to thank for that and I don't know about anyone else, but knowing 2k fans have no game to play at all doesn't make me feel any better about getting screwed as well.