Electronic Arts (EA) has settled a $27 million lawsuit first brought against them in 2008, alleging that their exclusive deal with the NFL to create NFL-licensed football games amounted to a monopoly. That deal effectively ended the playing career of their biggest (and really only) rival, Sega's NFL 2K series.

The settlement entitles any gamer who purchased an NFL, NCAA, or AFL title from 2006 onwards to a small monetary reimbursement. But before you loyal football fans who buy every NFL and NCAA version the moment its new box and cover star hits the shelves think you've hit the jackpot, the claims are not exactly on par with winning the lottery (more like a raffle; and a rather sad raffle at that).

Those who purchased one of the mentioned games for the PS2, Gamecube, or Xbox are entitled to a return of $6.79, while the same purchases for the current generation of consoles (the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii) nets a paltry return of $1.95. Talk about inflation.

As part of the settlement, EA cannot obtain exclusive rights with the NCAA for 5 years, after their current exclusivity deal ends in 2014. The settlement doesn't actually have any impact on their existing exclusive deal with the NFL though, which was the main crux of the lawsuit. That deal between EA and the NFL expires next year.

Ultimately, the whole affair will have relatively little impact on the sports gaming world, as EA will likely strike a new deal with the NFL after the current one expires, while the less-lucrative NCAA franchise will receive little to no competition from the gaming development house masses even once EA loses their exclusive rights to make those games. The last rival NCAA game was Sega's College Football 2K3, which was released in 2002, despite EA not having exclusive NCAA football rights until 2005.

Would you like to see EA lose their exclusive NFL licence, and see a real challenger step up to the plate (I know, wrong sports analogy) to shake up the football gaming scene? Or will we be stuck with EA as the only prominent sports game developer for years to come?