Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
South Park Takes Another Shot At EA Sports
The courts may have cleared EA Sports of wrongdoing over the use of player likeness in its NCAA Football games, but that didn't stop South Park from indignantly calling out the game publisher.
Three weeks after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by former college quarterback Sam Keller against EA Sports regarding the publisher's use of his likeness in past NCAA Football games, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone focused their satirical lens on the issue of student athlete compensation and the use of their likenesses in video games.
In the episode entitled "Crack Baby Athletic Association" Cartman convinces Kyle to join him in a new get-rich-quick scheme where the kids post videos of crack babies fighting over a crack rock on YouTube. The "sport" quickly becomes an internet sensation, and soon the boys are raking in the dough, which they spend on frivolities like a hot tub filled with KFC gravy and champagne dinners at Denny's rather than on the needy kids. To increase the sport's popularity, Cartman starts recruiting new crack babies from the womb and negotiating a licensing deal for the video game rights with EA Sports president "Mr. Peters."
When a crack mom asks Cartman why her baby doesn't get to keep any of the profits from participating, he cites the CBAA league rules, which bear more than a passing resemblance to the NCAA's student athlete guidelines.
As Kyle wrestles with the immorality of his participation in this exploitative venture, he vows to use a percentage of the profits to build a new orphanage for the crack babies. Cartman embraces the "room and board" project as a public relations stunt to gain goodwil (another nod to the NCAA), but before they can set the plan in action the Peter Moore caricature swindles the boys out of the league rights.
This is the second time South Park has targeted EA Sports. During the Tiger Woods sex scandal last year, the show joked about EA turning Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 from a golf simulation to a fighting simulation between Woods and his former wife Elin Nordegren.
If you missed it the crack baby episode, you can check out the entire episode on the South Park website.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
