Activision Blizzard sued by US government over esports salaries

[SaberVS7]

Before you ask, yes, Blizzard quickly moved to reveal a new OW character that day; Seemed to have worked here at least since all the talk around these parts was about Lifeweaver rather than the real news.

The US Department of Justice filed a civil suit against Activision Blizzard today, accusing the publisher of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act with Overwatch League and Call of Duty League rules that kept player salaries down.

The government is taking issue with the esports leagues' Competitive Balance Tax, which it says was intended to penalize teams if they spent more on player salaries than an amount decided upon by Activision Blizzard.

"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 workers—deserve the benefits of competition for their services," Justice Department antitrust division assistant attorney general Jonathan Kanter said.

"Activision's conduct prevented that from happening."

Activision Blizzard denied the charges.

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Source: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/activision-blizzard-sued-by-us-government-over-esports-salaries

 

[Ambient]

Fuck Activision Blizzard.

 

[Kyou]

Before you ask, yes, Blizzard quickly moved to reveal a new OW character that day; Seemed to have worked here at least since all the talk around these parts was about Lifeweaver rather than the real news.

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works every time

 

[Dyle]

It was already settled by yesterday afternoon, it just needs to be approved by a judge.

U.S. Justice Department settles with Activision over esports salary limits

The U.S. Justice Department agreed to a settlement with Activision Blizzard to resolve the department's lawsuit filed on Monday over salary limits in professional esports leagues.

www.reuters.com

 

[ToadPacShakur]

Well, it was talked about in the Microsoft/ABK thread. They settled the same day🤷‍♂

 

[Disco Infernal]

Settled already

 

[megamanofnumbers]

Yo ActiBliz. Gamer Protip for you guys. If you don't want to constantly be on the wrong end of the legal banhammer, maybe you should stop being so biohazardous to literally any entity resembling human that you put on your payroll.

 

[vlaar]

I'm not really into the whole OW/COD league, but "Competitive Balance Tax, which it says was intended to penalize teams if they spent more on player salaries than an amount decided upon by Activision Blizzard"

How is this any different than a salary cap that many major sports leagues around the world have?

 

[Deleted member 93062]

I'm not really into the whole OW/COD league, but "Competitive Balance Tax, which it says was intended to penalize teams if they spent more on player salaries than an amount decided upon by Activision Blizzard"

How is this any different than a salary cap that many major sports leagues around the world have?

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It's not. I think the distinction is that the salary cap in many major sports leagues was agreed upon with the player unions. Either way, I still think salary caps or something to level out playing field are quite important when it comes to any sports league.

 

[Tommy Showbiz]

Before you ask, yes, Blizzard quickly moved to reveal a new OW character that day; Seemed to have worked here at least since all the talk around these parts was about Lifeweaver rather than the real news.

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This is complete nonsense. The new hero was revealed because it was leaked onto PCGamesN earlier that day, was scheduled to be announced today, and literally launches next week.

They absolutely did not run up the announcement to distract from something that their parent company had literally already settled.

 

[vlaar]

It's not. I think the distinction is that the salary cap in many major sports leagues was agreed upon with the player unions. Either way, I still think salary caps or something to level out playing field are quite important when it comes to any sports league.

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And are there unions in esport leagues? Because if there aren't this seems like...nothing. Sure they can argue for more, but this doesn't

As for the salary cap, I agree with you. I follow Football and Football (regular and American) and it's quite easy to see how much a salary cap matters to the leagues, that and transfer fees. I wish regular football would do something about that.

 

[Frieza]

Pretty sure there is a new character every other season. The two things aren't related

 

[Firestorm]

Before you ask, yes, Blizzard quickly moved to reveal a new OW character that day; Seemed to have worked here at least since all the talk around these parts was about Lifeweaver rather than the real news.

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Y'all really need to understand how these things work before making up conspiracy theories lol

 

[Mesoian]

And are there unions in esport leagues? Because if there aren't this seems like...nothing. Sure they can argue for more, but this doesn't

As for the salary cap, I agree with you. I follow Football and Football (regular and American) and it's quite easy to see how much a salary cap matters to the leagues, that and transfer fees. I wish regular football would do something about that.

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Yeah, there are a dozen and a half reasons to dunk on abk, but this really isn't one of them. They violated the eSports equivalent of a salary cap they themselves helped pen, and immediately paid the penalty. There's no story here.