EA Overcharged Gamers Nearly a Billion Dollars Since 2006 for Madden, says Economist

The "Madden Monopoly" lawsuit took an interesting turn recently when Dr. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason was called as an expert witness. The University of Michigan economics professor estimates that Electronic Arts overcharged Madden NFL buyers between $701 million and $926 million from 2006 to 2009, according to documents uncovered by GamePolitics.

MacKie-Mason does not pretend that his data is complete, but he notes, "I provide this information for the limited purpose of allowing the Court to assess in rough terms the burden on Electronic Arts in relation to the magnitude of potential damages... Under California's antitrust statute, it is my understanding that these damages would be trebled."

The estimates come from the 50 percent to 66 percent overcharge for the over 30 million units of Madden NFL sold between 2006 – 2009, assuming that the NFL 2K series would have kept Madden's prices in the range of $19.95 to $29.95.

EA's attorneys, while complying with requests for sales data from the plaintiffs, disagreed vehemently with the the professor's decisions. "EA respectfully submits that Dr. MacKie-Mason's analysis is fundamentally flawed on multiple levels," said EA in a statement. "Indeed, Dr. MacKie-Mason's estimated magnitude of damages is nothing more than pure fiction - it has no basis in fact or law."

EA has tried to pass off its exclusive license with the NFL as something the league approached them about, not the other way around. Still, EA acquired the exclusive licenses to NCAA football and the Arena League soon afterwards, which was a monopolizing tactic that closed most of the doors to Visual Concepts for making a game to compete with Madden NFL.