EA Sports Football Pricing Lawsuit Settlement Checks Have Started to Arrive

Checks to claimants in the Pecover class action suit which accused Electronic Arts of raising the price of football games after securing exclusive licenses are now being delivered. 

The $27 million settlement – the pool being reduced to about $18 million after the attorneys took their cut – was distributed by taking into account the number of Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 football games purchased since 2006. The maximum payout was $54.32 for the past generation and $162.96 for the current generation. Those were raised from earlier amounts when far fewer claims were made than anticipated.

Claims had to be filed during the open period between October 2012 and May 2013. It’s unclear how payouts are actually being determined however, with many having cited a number of purchases that would meet or exceed the max not actually receiving the full anticipated amount.

The lawsuit filed in 2008 alleged that holding exclusive licenses for the major sports leagues allowed EA Sports to raise the price of the games due to the absence of competition. Besides the $27 million EA also agreed to defer from holding exclusive rights with the NCAA or Arena Football for a period of five years which at the time was a worthless gesture and even more so now that the NCAA series has been cancelled.