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Interview with EA Attorney

Posted by Zonk on from the more-from-a-lawyer's-mouth dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku has an outline of a discussion with one of the attorneys handling the EA case. It has some interesting details, including the fact that if the judgment is in favor of the employees it will likely force the entire game industry, at least in California, to start paying OT and Comp. "Depending on the nature of a positive judgment, other employers with similar job descriptions would most likely be required to start paying their employees by the hour and paying overtime" The article also hints that other game industry cases might be forthcoming."

2 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. If they lose, they'll move by SpinningAround · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem is of course that if the employees succeed but the judgement is enforceable only in California, all the gaming companies will simply move their operations somewhere more condusive to their business practices.

    Which is not to say that the employees shouldn't be pursuing the matter but simply that attempting to change the employer's practices through a state court action might not, in the longer term, have the desired result.

    A second issue is would such a judgement set good precedent that applies to the software industry in California as a whole. It would seem likely that it would have a fairly 'chilling' effect on the development industry in California if it did.

    1. Re:If they lose, they'll move by mutewinter · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is going to be a big boost to non-US gaming producers. They can make great games too so I'm not complaining.

      I think what this means is US gaming companies will have to be more focused and only hire the best of the best. Less games, maybe, just maybe, more quality games (after Daikatana we know name doesn't guarentee shit.)

      People in the gaming industry may be forced to go freelance. Working at home might be nice, but if they thought 70 hour work weeks were bad now they'll need to work 100 hours a week just to compete.

      We've seen several gaming companies go belly-up in this past year. EA is one of the few computer gaming companies that actually seems healthy. Lawsuits raise costs for everyone. If EA hits some unlucky bumps in the road things could get ugly. Maybe in 10 years only Koreans will be making PC games. Lets just hope the end result of this lawsuit is better for all of us.