Just because the license is up for auction doesn't make it not a monopoly. In the end only 1 company has the rights to develop and supply the product. Doesn't matter if its EA, Sony, or Microsoft. It's still a monopoly.

I believe technically to be considered a monopoly they'd have to make all the video games in the market. So it will never be considered a monopoly because they supply the only football game.

What other market is going to go up against a football game other than a football game?

Ok I'm going to use a comparison to see if you follow. There are however many video games in the industry just because only EA does football doesn't make it a monopoly.

Fore example say in the world of pro wrestling the WWE is the only game in town, they're not considered a monopoly because they are in the world of entertainment. They're the only place you can go for wrestling but not entertainment so it's not a monopoly.

Follow?

What. The. ****?

Does WWE have EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to people hitting each other?

EA has EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to the NFL franchise. Meaning they are the only company in the business than can produce a NFL game. No other company can do that. They control the market. That is the very definition of the word monopoly.

Why the hell is this concept so hard to grasp. For this to ever go up as a monopoly in this country EA would have to literally make every game in the market.

And frankly other companies can still make football games right now they just don't have the NFL license so they'd be no name players on made up teams.

It's bad for football gamers but there is nothing illegal about it.

Jesus christ. There is no other market for football other than football.

Monopolies aren't 100% illegal.

Yet it's not viewed that way, it's viewed as the video game industry, sports gaming is a tiny slice of that pie with football being just a slice of that.

Football gaming is not an exclusive section that isn't part of the video game world.

So what game are you going to replace Madden with if you are in the market for a NFL football game?

Nothing that is the same, if you don't like GTA would you like there to be another version of it made by another company or something?

Sports gaming is the only type of gaming where having similar games is good for gamers, but to the world of video gaming they don't give a ****. Matter of fact most of them think sports games suck and have shitty graphics and are paint by numbers etc etc.

We're talking about a small section of gaming aimed at a niche crowd, it's why Madden never changes they basically bank what their profit is before the game ever releases because they know.

I can go out an buy plenty of games from a plethora of different companies if I want to kill shit. I can only buy 1 game from 1 company that has exclusive rights to the product if I want to buy a NFL game.

fact is, this licensing deal created a monopoly. A monopoly is a monopoly. There used to be others who could make football games, made money doing it and were forced to shut down. It's the definition of monopoly.

that's a horrible comparison. Say 3 companies were making football games before this monopoly deal they made with EA. EA, 2K and Sega all made football games and had built a business around these football games. Well this deal forces 2K and Sega to shut down immediately and not allowed to continue to make money so that only one company can make money. That's creating a monopoly.

I'm not quite sure how anyone can say it's not a monopoly. EA just settled a lawsuit to shut people up about their exclusive rights to the NFL.

It isn't a monopoly. Mecca is correct. No, I am not a lawyer, nor do I claim to be. This just simply isn't a monopoly. EA bought the rights to use NFL names/images. 2K can go out and make a football game that looks similar to EA's madden if they wish (just not too similar), they just don't have permission to use any trademarked images/names the NFL owns.

Hell, 2K can probably make a game that is called "Pro Football 2013", which has 32 teams in 31 cities (2 in NYC), each active roster would have 53 men, etc... as long as they don't have a team in Arizona called the "Arizona Cardinals". They can have a team in KC as long as it is something like, "the KC Cherokees" or something. I'm not sure if they could use the same NFL color schemes for each team tho.

I'm surprised somebody like 2K hasn't made this game where the owners of the game are allowed to customize everything, including editing images/rosters/player names, stadium names, etc. I know they wouldn't make much money on it being a yearly release since you could just edit the previous one to play like a new game.

Sega and 2K can make another pro football simulator if they wish, they just can't use anything trademarked by the NFL.

Do you think Warner Bros. has a monopoly over Batman films? They own the exclusive rights to produce Batman films. I'm sure FOX would love to be able to make a Batman film, but unfortunately they do not have the exclusive rights to do so... much like Sega/2K.