EA Sports to sue Trey Parker/Matt Stone (or not)

Over last week's Tiger Woods episode, which of course made several (hilarious) Tiger Woods 11 references.

The episode cuts to scenes of Tiger and his wife Elin physically beating each other up, which later on appears to be a level from the new game “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11”. They also turn the car crash that first brought the scandal to the world’s attention into an action sequence, and later transform the game into a Side-On-Fighter – similar to Street Fighter IV. Hilarious, yes – however it seems as if the guys at EA Sports don’t think so.

When our source at the company contacted us, he said that “soon after the airing of the episode the top beef were called in, even Peter Moore was informed of the situation” he continued to say that “before the episode aired the marketing folks were already worried, but now they have a lot more to worry about”. Our source later goes into details about a possible lawsuit, saying that “while I personally found the episode quite funny, there are definitely a few copyright infringements in there that I’m sure will be dealt with accordingly”.

Fair enough I suppose, if they want to go ahead and sue because they feel their copyright has been infringed upon or brought into disrepute then that's their right. Still, I don't think it's a great move from a PR standpoint and is potentially far more damaging than South Park's parody.

far more damaging than South Park's parody.

That.

Its a bit stupid from they're point,since they had nothing against EA Sports.

Still, I don't think it's a great move from a PR standpoint and is potentially far more damaging than South Park's parody.

Couldn't agree more. But well, it's EA, it's not like it would be their first time being brain-dead either.

It's a lie....EA still can't be that soulless company I want them to be.

Today, a recent post on Daily Informer was brought to our attention, which reports that EA has decided to sue over a recent South Park episode, "Sexual Healing." The episode in question shows a mock-up of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, mixing in some ridiculous fighting elements (involving the wife he cheated on) into the golf sim portion of the game. It's really over-the-top, akin to the show's usual satire practices.

We contacted EA to get to the bottom of this, to which an EA spokesperson commented the rumored impending lawsuit is "nonsense." So, there you have it: EA is not suing over the episode. Nothing else to see here -- move along.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/22/ea-ru ... -nonsense/

Saw Pastapadre reporting that this morning. Sounds like they're taking the smart approach after all, it wouldn't have done them any favours if it were true.

If Matt and Trey were making their own Tiger Woods video game I could see why EA'd be upset but it was all parody, it was all in jest. Lighten up EA.

They don't need to lighten up; they're not actually suing. The initial report was completely false.