The USA files a lawsuit against Call of Duty Maker Activision Blizzard
The US Department of Justice has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision), alleging anti-competitive conduct by one of the world’s largest video game developers and publishers.
“Video games and esports are among the most popular and fastest-growing forms of entertainment in the world today, and professional esports players — like all employees — deserve the benefits of competition for their services. Activision’s actions prevented that from happening,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. “Today’s lawsuit makes it clear that the Competition Authority remains committed to protecting workers in all industries from anti-competitive behaviour.”
The Federal Trade Commission, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust laws, decided to block Microsoft’s $69 billion bid to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard in December.
The complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that in two esports leagues owned by Activision, Activision and the independently owned teams in each league imposed a so-called Competitive Balance Tax. As alleged in the complaint, the tax was designed to penalize teams in the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues if the team’s player compensation exceeded a threshold set by Activision.
At the same time, the antitrust division left the proposal for approval as a regulation to solve competition problems.
“If approved by the court, the proposed consent decree would prohibit Activision from imposing rules that would directly or indirectly limit player compensation in any of Activision’s professional leagues, or that would tax, fine or otherwise penalize any team for exceeding a certain amount of compensation for its players,” the Justice Department said.
The proposed consent decree with Activision would also require Activision to confirm that it has ended all competitive balance taxes in its professional leagues, implement revised anticompetitive compliance and whistleblower protection policies, and provide a notice and explanation of the final judgment to teams and players in its professional leagues.
The Justice Department said the lawsuit is part of a broader focus on anticompetitive labor market abuses in the antitrust department.
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