University of Michigan economics professor Jeffrey MacKie-Mason estimated that EA has exploited its exclusive licensing deal with the NFL to overcharge Madden players up to $926 million during the years 2006 through 2009.
Dr. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason made his claim in a document filed last week with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco which summoned him as an expert witness to assess whether EA exploited the aforementioned NFL exclusive licensing deal to eliminate Take Two Interactive's competing NFL 2K series.
"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" he wrote. "Under California's antitrust statute, it is my understanding that these damages would be trebled."
"When Take-Two was able to compete unhindered, Madden NFL's competitive price was in the range of $19.95 to $29.95. I assume for this exercise that these would have been Madden's prices but for the alleged [monopolistic] acts," Dr. MacKie-Mason concluded.
EA's attorneys agreed to provide all the documents they could locate to the professor to help him refine his findings, but they stressed that "EA respectfully submits that Dr. MacKie-Mason's analysis is fundamentally flawed on multiple levels. Indeed, Dr. MacKie-Mason's estimated magnitude of damages is nothing more than pure fiction - it has no basis in fact or law..."