Madden NFL 16 News Post

EA/Madden Likeness Lawsuit Moving Forward...

07:01 PM - March 22, 2016 by RaychelSnr

The US Supreme Court denied an attempt by EA to dismiss a suit centered around the game publisher's use of retired players likenesses in Madden NFL Football.

Quote:


	"Thousands of retired NFL athletes originally filed suit against EA in 2010, alleging that the publisher violated their state-law right to publicity by using their likenesses on historic teams in Madden titles from 2001-2009. Like the collegiate athletes who received $60 million in the settlement of a similar case, the NFL players in question did not appear in the Madden games under their real names. However, all other identifying traits � height, weight, ethnicity and the like � were true to life, and the virtual athletes were rated to perform like their real-world counterparts. Retired NFL players' lawsuit against EA's Madden series can go forward, court says (update) EA did not compensate these players for the use of their likenesses. Since 1994, the publisher has paid licensing fees to the NFL Players Association for the rights to use active NFL athletes' names and likenesses. Retired players currently appear in Madden's Ultimate Team mode, and are paid for it.

In case this rings a bell, EA also just recently settled a case involving NCAA Football which did the same thing but for college athletes. That settlement cost EA $60 million.

In the big picture, its just incredibly unlikely any attempts at historical teams and/or any 'generic rosters' with realistic-ish players will ever be attempted again in any sports game. It would certainly seem EA will attempt to settle the case with the former NFL players as they did with the college athletes. We'll be following the case step by step!

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Member Comments

# 1 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 03/22/16 07:02 PM

I'm getting so tired of this crap smh.

# 2 Junior Moe @ 03/22/16 07:06 PM

Thank you! Now lets get some parameters worked out so that we can see a return of college football and basketball video games.

-Never mind. Jumped the gun thinking this was related to Obannon.

# 3 Toupal @ 03/22/16 07:36 PM

As disappointing as this is, I hope madden/ EA start putting more efforts into creating a team/ creating a player so that way the community can build historical teams similar to NCAA's team builder website.

Also this doesn't rule out retired players consenting to EA to use their likeness for things like Ultimate Team or just historical players.

# 4 tril @ 03/22/16 08:31 PM

the beginning of the end for sports titles with real rosters.
Im sure the future contracts for player likeliness in video games will be much higher.
Everything with professional sports and athletes is trending higher when it comes to cost. So the gaming industry will be no different.

With that in mind its time for companies like 2k to get back into making sports titles with generic customizable rosters. generic sports titles that creates their own league history as you play might be a huge draw.

# 5 gr18 @ 03/22/16 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toupal


	As disappointing as this is, I hope madden/ EA start putting more efforts into creating a team/ creating a player so that way the community can build historical teams similar to NCAA's team builder website. Also this doesn't rule out retired players consenting to EA to use their likeness for things like Ultimate Team or just historical players.

Just take APF2k8 as an example of how much money they put out for the retired players and how hard it is to justify paying it.

# 6 Toupal @ 03/22/16 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gr18


	Just take APF2k8 as an example of how much money they put out for the retired players and how hard it is to justify paying it.

As stated above in the other post, player likeness will only go up in cost. And as long as there are people like Vince Ferragamo, Ed O'Bannon, and Sam Keller ruining the fun for the other 99.8% of the gamers, we will be battling stuff like this for awhile.

However, I believe something like NCAA's online teambuilder and roster editor will allow for the users to keep finding ways around these law suits. Go to NCAA 14, and look at all the successful historical teams, fictional teams, and FCS schools.

Additonally for the sake of the NFL, NFLPA, and EA to forgo real rosters for generic rosters.

# 7 fredropro @ 03/22/16 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tril


	the beginning of the end for sports titles with real rosters. Im sure the future contracts for player likeliness in video games will be much higher. Everything with professional sports and athletes is trending higher when it comes to cost. So the gaming industry will be no different. With that in mind its time for companies like 2k to get back into making sports titles with generic customizable rosters. generic sports titles that creates their own league history as you play might be a huge draw.

I have a feeling you're right man it would really be a shame after all these years we lose detailed rosters.... Just when we finally received weekly updates.

# 8 reverend_heat @ 03/22/16 11:23 PM

This is why its so important for EA to continue to add every type of equipment current and past, as well as every imaginable uniform and just let the community take care of classic teams/players.

# 9 braves_94 @ 03/23/16 12:06 AM

Everyone played NCAA to be like Vince Young or Reggie Bush. No one played Madden to be Marcus Allen or Larry Csonka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vaKYntbXZ4

# 10 ednaaard @ 03/23/16 06:58 AM

This could turn out to be good news...maybe now EA will create something to allow the dedicated community to take care of realistic rosters or themed rosters.

# 11 Halloween @ 03/23/16 08:52 AM

You got paid millions for playing a sport you love from people like us.
Get your sassy a$$ in a videogame!

# 12 GlennN @ 03/23/16 09:13 AM

The solution is so simple - just allow users to edit players freely. Personally, I don't care whether rosters can be shared or not. If I want a particular player in my game, let me create/edit him.

# 13 kjcheezhead @ 03/23/16 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tril


	the beginning of the end for sports titles with real rosters. Im sure the future contracts for player likeliness in video games will be much higher. Everything with professional sports and athletes is trending higher when it comes to cost. So the gaming industry will be no different. With that in mind its time for companies like 2k to get back into making sports titles with generic customizable rosters. generic sports titles that creates their own league history as you play might be a huge draw.

As long as one game has access to the shield I doubt this happens. Casuals will take the game that has the real stadiums and replicated unis. The generic game won't be authentic enough to get their attention.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see this as a positive at all. It makes it riskier to do generic games for fear of being sued over likenesses, if anything. Safer to just stick to professional leagues and real players you can get a license for and pay them accordingly.

# 14 purplerat @ 03/23/16 03:06 PM

You can complain about the people doing the suing all you want but this is all on EA and their exclusive license.

You all know damn well that if another company put out a football game which cloned the NFL teams and players the way EA does with these retired and college players EA would be the ones pitching a fit and suing them into oblivion.

The anti-competitive monopoly EA has with Madden kills any possible market for these players to sell their likeness in video games and then EA has the audacity to rip them off on top of that.

I love playing Madden but I do hope EA gets hit hard on this one too. They deserve it.

# 15 HenryClay1844 @ 03/23/16 03:18 PM

Remember kids, greed trumps fun every time.

# 16 roadman @ 03/23/16 03:29 PM

As for a business losing money over lawsuits, depends on the size of the lawsuit, but some jobs could be at stake, which is never a good thing for anyone.

Plus, it takes two to tangle for a business partnership to develop, so, the NFL is just as much to blame as anyone else.

I want competition as much as the next person does, but until the NFL abandons their business model, things will be status quo for awhile.

# 17 Junior Moe @ 03/23/16 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjcheezhead


	As long as one game has access to the shield I doubt this happens. Casuals will take the game that has the real stadiums and replicated unis. The generic game won't be authentic enough to get their attention. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see this as a positive at all. It makes it riskier to do generic games for fear of being sued over likenesses, if anything. Safer to just stick to professional leagues and real players you can get a license for and pay them accordingly.

I think that a licensed game with clearly generic rosters could work, provided it has authentic schools, teams, arenas and stadiums. NFL is out of the question, though. Look at how safe 2K was with college players and non signed legends in NBA 2K. The college players were generic as heck, but they looked real. Some even looked like spliced, younger hybrids of NBA players. Their names and numbers were generic as could be. But we had the real teams and courts and a collegiate atmosphere. I think that's what most people want. The nonlicensed players on the classic teams are given numbers 99, 98 or 97. Then are named "John Smith". In both cases it would be hard to sue for likeness. Now is a game like that a worthy investment? That's the question. I think NCAA Football would be; NCAA Basketball, not sure.

# 18 kjcheezhead @ 03/23/16 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junior Moe


	I think that a licensed game with clearly generic rosters could work, provided it has authentic schools, teams, arenas and stadiums. NFL is out of the question, though. Look at how safe 2K was with college players and non signed legends in NBA 2K. The college players were generic as heck, but they looked real. Some even looked like spliced, younger hybrids of NBA players. Their names and numbers were generic as could be. But we had the real teams and courts and a collegiate atmosphere. I think that's what most people want. The nonlicensed players on the classic teams are given numbers 99, 98 or 97. Then are named "John Smith". In both cases it would be hard to sue for likeness. Now is a game like that a worthy investment? That's the question. I think NCAA Football would be; NCAA Basketball, not sure.

That's the question, and I'm not sure I think even NCAA football would be. EA used the foundation of madden for their college game and truth is that it didn't sell tons of copies. A stand alone college game that had to pay for all its development cost with just its own sales might not be a worthy investment. When you add the chance of getting sued over likenesses that can be anything from jersey numbers, to height/weight, to some other vague similarity and it gets really dicey.

# 19 CM Hooe @ 03/23/16 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by purplerat


	You can complain about the people doing the suing all you want but this is all on EA and their exclusive license.

EA had used the likenesses of historic players as far back as Madden NFL 2001, likely earlier. In fact, someone can spot check me on this but I don't recall any recent Madden game (from Madden NFL 06 on, when the exclusive license kicked in) even having historic teams in the game for retired players to sue about. Finally, since retired players are not members of the NFL Players Association, they are free to license their likeness to anyone they choose.

This literally has nothing to do with the exclusive license.

# 20 tril @ 03/23/16 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junior Moe


	I think that a licensed game with clearly generic rosters could work, provided it has authentic schools, teams, arenas and stadiums. NFL is out of the question, though. Look at how safe 2K was with college players and non signed legends in NBA 2K. The college players were generic as heck, but they looked real. Some even looked like spliced, younger hybrids of NBA players. Their names and numbers were generic as could be. But we had the real teams and courts and a collegiate atmosphere. I think that's what most people want. The nonlicensed players on the classic teams are given numbers 99, 98 or 97. Then are named "John Smith". In both cases it would be hard to sue for likeness. Now is a game like that a worthy investment? That's the question. I think NCAA Football would be; NCAA Basketball, not sure.

you're right. I think on the college level, generic rosters could work as long as teh schools are authentic.

CH2k8 shipped with generic rosters, and that didnt diminish the game one bit.
College football might be different, becasue of a biger more hardcore fan base. But again I think as long as the schools and conferences are authentic then it wont make a difference.

The beauty of college sports game legacy modes are that the player turn over rate is high. ts 4 years years so rosters become generic quickly anyways.
In addition, the EA college football title and 2k College hoops had more than solid gameplay and a robust recruiting mode, which keeps the game fresh.

just give users the option to edit and customize rosters.
with the popularity of college sports on teh increase, these games will sell.

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