An EA presentation on the state of the football market in November 2004 said, “[bullet] Sega stole the
initiative from EA, particularly on Xbox [bullet] Curre
ntly out of position going into Xbox 2’s launch year
[bullet] Taking back this initiative can be achieved with: [sub-bullet] Licensing lockout [sub-bullet] Radical
changes in our product and market strategy, along with appropriate resource allocation [sub-bullet] Xbox
focus on product and marketing in FY06.” Sitrin, Todd, 11 November 2004, State of the Football Market,
EA00138827 - EA00138849 at 8829.
•
An EA presentation on the state of the football market
in November 2004 said that if it was able to “Secure
full [exclusive] deal” with the NFL and NFLPA for the following, EA would be able to achieve “AAA
Pricing”. However, if EA was unable to sign an exclusive it would have to “Compete against fully loaded
ESPN” and thus “Lower pricing”. Sitrin, Todd, 11 November 2004, State of the Football Market,
EA00138827 - EA00138849 at 8841.
•
Steve Chiang, General Manager of EA Tiburon Studio, in notes from October 21, 2004, listed the following
strategies under the heading “Addressing the threat of Sega”: “[bullet] Move up ship date (insert number of
weeks) [bullet] Price [bullet] Multiple SKU strategy
or bundling on the same DVD [bullet] Changing the
business category through licensing”
Chiang, Steve, 21 October 2004, Internal EA Email, Subject:
Franchise Review Kickoff Notes, EA00070398 - EA00070399 at 0398.
98
See, e.g.,
•
In the fall of 2004 Todd Sitrin, Vice President of Marketing at EA Tiburon Studio, indicated that EA would
be able to sell an AFL game for at most approxima
tely $30 if it faced low-price competition from Take-
Two’s NFL 2K series. “Obviously, we are trying to hold pricing on Madden and NCAA Football, but with
Sega at $19, we may not be able to launch an AFL title above $29.” 21 October 2004, RE: AFL Deal-
Attorney Client Privileged, EA00333298 - EA00333301 at 3301.
•
Later, in the same email string Larry Probst, Chairman
and CEO, suggested that if EA signed exclusive
licenses with the NFL and NFLPA, then it should be
able to set a retail price of about $40 for its AFL
game. “If the negotiations with the NFL are succes
sful, which will facilitate
premium pricing on the
flagship product, we should be able to get $39.95 for an AFL title. I don’t want to leave this license open to
Sega/Take-Two as an alternative strategy to an NFL branded product.” 21 October 2004, RE: AFL Deal-
Attorney Client Privileged, EA00333298 - EA00333301 at 3298
Case4:08-cv-02820-CW Document440-4 Filed02/05/13 Page29 of 121