Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offices!

[Luftbud]

I cannot believe the number of issues we as fans of NFL Football Sims have had this year, and some are still unresolved, with attempting to play Madden 25. Unbelievable in 2024! No!?!?

EA has essentially stolen from all of us. If you bought the MVP bundle as I did, you have had anything but an MVP experience, from the launch to the glitches and outright inability to play an NFL football simulation game in the year 2024.

Class Action Lawsuit against EA?!?! The first step is filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office. Every US state has a place where you can file a 'Consumer Complaint'. If you live in Michigan as I do, here is the link: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/complaints.

The process to file a 'Consumer Complaint' with the Attorney General's office is simple. While going through the process I realized that the long pole in the process was with the 'Complaint Detail'. The writing of the 'narrative' is where I think we can help each other.

Thoughts? Is anyone interested in supporting? I just think it's well past time that EA is held accountable for the years of lying and stealing from its customers.

At a minimum, 'MVP bundles' that are purchased months in advance, should be outlawed as Microsoft told me that because of the purchase date, it fell outside of the time frame where I could have received a refund for the game. To me, this may be the most shady practice. You are basically stuck with the defective product because of the way it was sold to you and you didn't know this but were supposed to because you checked a box. Kind of like other deceptive practices utilized by Electronic Arts (EA).

Really bummed out that in 2024, we DO NOT have a reliable NFL Football Simulation game. EA has turned electronic NFL Football Simulation into an alternate dimension where you have to pay for the 'Ultimate Team' (MUT) Shameful IMHO!

Thoughts? Time to take action? File a 'Consumer Complaint' with your States Attorney General's Office!

[SmashMan]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

And the goal of this would be to get EA to fix bugs and glitches faster? Force Microsoft to grant your refund? Shorter pre-order windows?

I'm having trouble telling what your expected resolution would be here.

[LowerWolf]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

The lawsuit threads are the best.

[gsize19]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

I cannot believe the number of issues we as fans of NFL Football Sims have had this year, and some are still unresolved, with attempting to play Madden 25. Unbelievable in 2024! No!?!?

EA has essentially stolen from all of us. If you bought the MVP bundle as I did, you have had anything but an MVP experience, from the launch to the glitches and outright inability to play an NFL football simulation game in the year 2024.

Class Action Lawsuit against EA?!?! The first step is filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office. Every US state has a place where you can file a 'Consumer Complaint'. If you live in Michigan as I do, here is the link: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/complaints.

The process to file a 'Consumer Complaint' with the Attorney General's office is simple. While going through the process I realized that the long pole in the process was with the 'Complaint Detail'. The writing of the 'narrative' is where I think we can help each other.

Thoughts? Is anyone interested in supporting? I just think it's well past time that EA is held accountable for the years of lying and stealing from its customers.

At a minimum, 'MVP bundles' that are purchased months in advance, should be outlawed as Microsoft told me that because of the purchase date, it fell outside of the time frame where I could have received a refund for the game. To me, this may be the most shady practice. You are basically stuck with the defective product because of the way it was sold to you and you didn't know this but were supposed to because you checked a box. Kind of like other deceptive practices utilized by Electronic Arts (EA).

Really bummed out that in 2024, we DO NOT have a reliable NFL Football Simulation game. EA has turned electronic NFL Football Simulation into an alternate dimension where you have to pay for the 'Ultimate Team' (MUT) Shameful IMHO!

Thoughts? Time to take action? File a complaint with your States Attorney General's Office!

While I share your frustration, I am not sure it would gain any traction. EA has a monopoly on several sports games, and the fact that it is a sports game, it literally is a game that is played by probably less than .2% of the US Population. Probably far less.

I have the same gripes with the NHL series. They have robbed Peter to pay Paul for years, and really it only affects a fraction of their sales base (the offline player).

I only play offline Franchises, Dynasties, what have you. It's my hobby, and has been for over 35 years (longer really if you include Atari and Intellivision gaming). BUt in today's world, gaming companies, while they profit from sales of the games enough to pay employees and still have a handsome reward, it's the bonuses they want. The online card collecting ultimate teams is where they make their year end bonuses, and this is why they put such a focus on it, because they aren't happy with the 10-15% profit return, they want to see those numbers close to 75-100%. It lines their pockets, and in return, we hear all the same stuff year after year. "Next year will be the best", "We had added better Ai", etc., etc., etc. If they meant this, why isn't it their focus every year?

I liken the reason why games take what seems three steps backwards every year despite it being next gen technology to a few things, but I feel the primary reason is you always have people wanting the game to reimagine itself. I mean it's like how much more can you do with a controller powering a game? But people don't want to pay for a $65 roster update every year. While I would, the majority would not. I would be happy if they got their product perfect to then just leave it alone.

But this is where they would lose their money. Because people would complain it is a $65 roster update versus enjoying a game with the same technology that brought them success. While Madden was specifically mentioned here, I again bring up the NHL series. The game played the best and had an incredible way of customization on the PS3, two generations ago. Sure, it looks like crap compared to how today's games look, but the game played well, you could add custom music to make it feel like you are playing a game in that specific arena, even the franchise options were deeper.

But that all said, dude, I do get your frustration, and to me, along with being frustrated with the developer for making changes to areas that really didn't need changed, which creates a whole new bunch of issues, I also blame the online gamer because it is their suggestions that seem to carry any weight at all. We can post wishlists for games until we are blue in the face, and many of us loyal fans of the sport who offer wishlist suggestions have great ideas, but you never see these added because it isn't us paying an extra $200-300 a year on the game to build a 99 rated team to play online.

Nothing will ever come of a lawsuit or threat of one unfortunately. The only thing that will get thru to a developer is if people stop buying their product.

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

NFL owners are the ones that need to hear the complaints. Sadly, only a few of them would hear you over the check the get from EA.

I have a hard time relating to complainers at this point. If you like playing online, buy the game. If you like MUT, buy the game. If you like their franchise mode, buy the game. If you don't fall in any of those 3 categories, I don't see why you would buy this game. Least of all their most expensive bundle.

[Therebelyell626]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

I’m in! as stated in another thread….

We will accept nothing less than a refund, a written apology, and Clint’s firing.

[Ghost Of The Year]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

Probably the best way to ''file a complaint'' is to not buy from EA anymore.

[mikejs210]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

What exactly are you seeking from something like this? How exactly were you damaged as a consumer? How were you deceived? If you want to make the claim that Madden isn't "sim" enough for you, what exactly defines "sim" in a football video game and where does the game state that it will reach a certain threshold or metric of being "sim" for its consumers?

At the end of the day, Madden is a video game and is a form of entertainment. Many aspects of the game are going to be subjective in terms of replicating what happens on the NFL field and even further, the front offices of NFL teams. The developers have to manage the expectations of several player types from sim Franchise players, MUT players, competitive players, casual players, CPU vs. CPU players, while at the same time meeting the expectations of share holders expecting a return on investment.

If the game isn't replicating simulated stats like run to pass ratio, yearly sacks or yearly passing yards in a manner that's to your liking, if the shade of blue is slightly off on your favorite team's pants, if the undrafted rookie from Western Michigan who's making waves in practice isn't updated in the roster timely enough, I'm not sure that all qualifies as deceit as much as the expectations from consumers of the game are just very high.

It's fine for expectations to be so high as well, but you have to ask yourself, what exactly are you looking to achieve and how can this company meet the specific needs and wants of so many types of players at the same time. Is it easy to provide a live service game with Ultimate Team, pushing out weekly content, while at the same time ensuring that players who are not investing any more money into the game are satisfied with very specific simulated statistics in an offline Franchise mode and also at the same time adjusting gameplay on field so competitive players are able to compete in a manner that's deemed fair and creates games that are actually competitive?

[Rocket32]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

For EA to have ‘essentially stolen’ from you, you’d have to be unable to access what you paid for, or have it be in such a broken state that it’s literally unplayable…..which it’s objectively nowhere near. In what way did they deceive you? By not it not being ‘sim enough’? That’s subjective, there’s no exact agreed upon definition and way to measure it.

You can’t just sue because you made a purchase you now regret. You’re not the first person to think of this, either. Do you really think a company the size of EA would leave themselves open to such an obvious lawsuit? Best you can do is file a complaint with your wallet and stop buying from EA.

[SmashMan]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

You can’t just sue because you made a purchase you now regret.

[kennylc321]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

The lawsuit threads are the best.

Came to post the same thing.

[kennylc321]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

Don’t the the haters stop you from living your dream. You don’t need them. Just call a lawyer from a daytime talk show commercial and tell them your concern. You can take on the almighty evil EA. Take on MLB The Show while you’re at it.

Stand up to your oppressors and let them know you’re mad as heck and not taking it anymore!

I cannot believe the number of issues we as fans of NFL Football Sims have had this year, and some are still unresolved, with attempting to play Madden 25. Unbelievable in 2024! No!?!?

EA has essentially stolen from all of us. If you bought the MVP bundle as I did, you have had anything but an MVP experience, from the launch to the glitches and outright inability to play an NFL football simulation game in the year 2024.

Class Action Lawsuit against EA?!?! The first step is filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office. Every US state has a place where you can file a 'Consumer Complaint'. If you live in Michigan as I do, here is the link: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/complaints.

The process to file a 'Consumer Complaint' with the Attorney General's office is simple. While going through the process I realized that the long pole in the process was with the 'Complaint Detail'. The writing of the 'narrative' is where I think we can help each other.

Thoughts? Is anyone interested in supporting? I just think it's well past time that EA is held accountable for the years of lying and stealing from its customers.

At a minimum, 'MVP bundles' that are purchased months in advance, should be outlawed as Microsoft told me that because of the purchase date, it fell outside of the time frame where I could have received a refund for the game. To me, this may be the most shady practice. You are basically stuck with the defective product because of the way it was sold to you and you didn't know this but were supposed to because you checked a box. Kind of like other deceptive practices utilized by Electronic Arts (EA).

Really bummed out that in 2024, we DO NOT have a reliable NFL Football Simulation game. EA has turned electronic NFL Football Simulation into an alternate dimension where you have to pay for the 'Ultimate Team' (MUT) Shameful IMHO!

Thoughts? Time to take action? File a complaint with your States Attorney General's Office!

[Luftbud]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

And the goal of this would be to get EA to fix bugs and glitches faster? Force Microsoft to grant your refund? Shorter pre-order windows?

I'm having trouble telling what your expected resolution would be here.

Great questions. The thread was intended to start a constructive conversation with the goal of holding Electronic Arts accountable for releasing a defective product year after year. EA has mismanaged consumer expectations for years and should not have the NFL exclusive agreement IMHO. We as consumers should have a voice and a place.

Turns out there is such a place. Contrary to popular belief it's not on this forum, Reddit, EA's Forums, other groups, etc... that document the issues that gamers are having with EA's products. The best place in my opinion is to use the existing channels to file 'Consumer Complaints' and that is with your respective State Attorney General's office. They are there to protect consumers' rights and if enough consumers from multiple States file complaints, I can assure you that the right people will eventually pay attention and take the matter seriously.

Question 1: And the goal of this would be to get EA to fix bugs and glitches faster? A great start would be to release a product that worked from launch day. Let's go back to a time when EA couldn't release a game with the number of defects that are around today. I was a software developer/engineer in the B2B space, a part of two Unicorns, I can assure you that if I or anyone on my team released products that way EA does.... I wouldn't be retired today and probably flipping burgers to pay my legal fees. To answer your question, YES. EA should not be allowed to release a product, for entertainment or not, that requires so many title updates to work as expected by the consumer. There need to be guard rails that protect the consumer.

Question 2: Force Microsoft to grant your refund? In short, Yes. The outdated EULA's need to be updated to account for software products that are defective or do not live up to the consumers expectations. ALL software publishers should not be able to take consumers money and offer no recourse when they release a defective product to the market. I am not suggesting an 'Indemnity Clause', just simply stating that we as consumers that work hard for our money have the ability to recover that money.

Question 3: Shorter pre-order windows? YES. This is the one that I believe has the most legs in this situation. EA is selling a product, well before it's release in a bundled format, and not delivering the product as advertised. This is the actual crux of the complaint that I filed with the Michigan Attonrney General's office. It's not even a 'bait and switch'! This to me is criminal. However good this may be for EA's stock price, meaning preorder data, it is not fair to take the consumers money and then leave them without the option of getting their money back because the purchase was made 'outside the standard return' window. This is the one that will end up getting traction out of all IMHO.

In summary, the intent isn't to make this into yet another 'Let's file a lawsuit against EA' thread. Instead a collective of 'What can be done? How can we do it? How can we as gamers share our voice?

I am suggesting that we should use the protections provided to us as consumers and file the proper complaints with our respective Attorney Generals.

For years I have come into these forums, here and there and it's always the same. A bunch of scattered voices that ultimately do not care and continue to put up with it. I am saying, that if you care, file a complaint. FILE A 'CONSUMER COMPLAINT' WITH YOUR ATTORNEY GENERAL. It is a start and a much better one then hoping that EA will do the right thing.

[Gosens6]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic

Man… it’s a video game

You talking about lawsuits and attorney generals ..

It’s a video game..

[countryboy]

Re: Time to File 'Consumer Complaints' vs EA w/our respective Attorney Generals offic




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