
- Ncaa basketball 2010 video game trial#
- Ncaa basketball 2010 video game license#
- Ncaa basketball 2010 video game plus#
Ncaa basketball 2010 video game license#
If the NCAA won’t license the schools, so be it. So, yes, EA should make a game with real college players, both current and past. I think figuring out a fair distribution of video game money is well within the abilities of mankind. Some would say EA figuring out how much money should go to each player would be complicated. All they want is a small amount of money to show they count. Most players would love to be in the video games. It wouldn’t cost you a lot, either-I can assure you. EA should reach out and negotiate a group license with players. To be honest, the one disappointment I have from the lawsuit is that EA hasn’t had the courage to say, “To hell with the NCAA!” EA has basically let the NCAA tell them what to do, and now consumers are being denied games that they clearly want. If the NCAA told EA it could pay college athletes without retribution by the NCAA, we would see these college games. EA is simply afraid of the NCAA, which could decide not to allow the licensing of team and university intellectual property. So, no, my lawsuit hasn’t stopped EA from publishing college sports video games. All we asked for is that EA pursue what it really wanted to do: negotiate with us to use our identities. Just the opposite, actually-we love EA Sports college games and wish EA still made them. It’s also worth noting that we never asked EA to stop making college sports games. He explained that EA had arrangements in place to easily negotiate with college athletes for a group license and that EA very much wanted those rights to make the games more realistic.
Ncaa basketball 2010 video game trial#
“This is exactly the type of thing that could submarine the game,” CLC senior vice president Derek Eiler wrote in an email to EA, “if it got to the media.” Joel Linzer, an executive VP for EA, testified during our trial to provide additional details. But then, as those emails explained, EA pulled the names right before publication.īecause the Collegiate Licensing Company-the exclusive trademark licensing agent for the NCAA-warned them to do so. Among them were emails from EA Sports staff in which they talked about designing and coding the March Madness 08 game to include players’ names. In one of the boxes were email printouts. Back in 2012 EA sent us boxes of papers as part of a document request. And so we struck a deal with EA and that removed EA from the case.ĮA settled in part because it didn’t care about protecting amateurism-it cared about publishing video games-and in part because it knew that it had used players’ images and likenesses without their permission.
Ncaa basketball 2010 video game plus#
It was one of those conversations where we all agreed that two plus two equals four but they said we could wait it out and try to make it equal five. They asked me if it was enough or if we should keep fighting. They explained why they believed it made sense. It was about fairness and recognition of rights.Īnd I should add that my lawyers consulted with me about the settlement and asked for my approval. I also recognize that a check for five figures didn’t make any player rich, but our case-our movement-was never about making anyone rich. The checks obviously didn’t come from the NCAA, so they didn’t “right the wrong” that the NCAA had inflicted on college athletes. Depending on how many games the players appeared in and how closely their likeness was directly copied in the game’s avatars, players got checks worth up to $7,200 and on average about $1,200. The settlement called for EA to pay about $40 million to more than 29,000 current and former players who were part of our class action. We have no grievance with them and they have no grievance with us. Plus, EA reached a settlement with us right before the trial. Blame the NCAA for refusing to change its rules in the face of basic common sense, not to mention consumer demand. If the NCAA had let EA pay us, all of you gamers out there would have your college sports games. The NCAA told EA that the video game publisher couldn’t pay for the complete identity rights of college players. So why aren’t there college games with complete players’ identities? It’s because of the NCAA.
