Activision Blizzard Settles Lawsuit With US Government Over Anticompetitive Esports Concerns

gamespot.com:

Activision was sued and settled the case on the same day, it seems.

By Eddie Makuch on

The US Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against the Call of Duty company, claiming Activision Blizzard made rules for Overwatch and Call of Duty esports leagues and players that were anticompetitive. The DOJ claims Activision Blizzard is violating the Sherman Act.

For its part, Activision Blizzard tells GameSpot that it does not believe it broke the law, and it appears the case has been settled on the same day it was filed. This was the second major lawsuit involving the US government involving Activision Blizzard pending currently, as Microsoft is being sued by the FTC over its planned purchase of the company.

The DOJ's complaint claimed that Activision Blizzard used a «Competitive Balance Tax» in the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League. The DOJ says this was an anticompetitive move that was put in place to penalize teams in each league when a player's compensation passed a certain threshold.

Activision Blizzard tells GameSpot that it «carefully designed and implemented» the Competitive Balance Tax to help players «creative viable career opportunities» within the leagues. Activision Blizzard also maintains that it never asked anyone to pay the tax and pointed out that the tax was removed in 2021.

«We have always believed, and still believe, that the Competitive Balance Tax was lawful, and it did not have an adverse impact on player salaries. The tax was never levied, and the leagues voluntarily dropped it from our rules in 2021. We remain committed to a player ecosystem with fair pay and healthcare and continue to have the least restrictive player mobility compensation system across all of the major sports