After a 3 day deliberation, a Californian jury awarded Robin Antonick – the unique designer Madden NFL – greater than $11 million dollars in damages after EA didn’t pay the programmer royalties for the series.

Earlier this year, Antonick filed a suit against EA for using software he had programmed after which failing to pay him royalties on successive releases of Madden. EA tried to downplay Antonick’s role within the series, but a Californian court didn’t feel the identical way, and now EA should pay Antonick over $11 million dollars. Antonick also has the choice to continue to pursue EA for royalties on games that were published after 1997 – games with significantly higher revenues and possible damages.

In the case, Antonick claimed that he had signed a chain of publishing and development contracts with EA, culminating in a 1986 agreement that stated that EA would pay Antonick royalties on any derivative works relating to the unique EA Madden, which Antonick had developed.

The jury determined that several of EA’s Madden games, published between 1990-1996, were similar enough to Antonick’s original that that EA must play back royalties. A future phase of the trial might be held to find out whether EA is accountable for paying Antonick for games published after 1997.

An EA Spokesperson told us, “While we’re disappointed with the jury’s verdict and may appeal, this has always been a case about games from the early 1990s, and it has no impact on today’s Madden NFL franchise.”

Our Take
Lawsuits suck, but so would not getting paid for something which you frolicked engaged on. Game Informer’s Mike Futter thinks, “Here is the most important step for Antonick, or even if EA proves victorious within the second phase of the trial, the funds awarded to Madden’s original developer and the popularity from this suit should give him some peace. If he’s in a position to reach the second one phase. Things may be very interesting. A victory regarding newer titles would put EA in a troublesome situation and sure incentivize a whole overhaul within the development of future football titles. The second one phase is ready greater than money. It’s in regards to the culture of Madden and its fans.”