By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – Online game maker Activision Blizzard has been hit with a U.S. lawsuit claiming it restricts competitors for organized gaming involving its flagship franchise “Name of Responsibility.”
Skilled avid gamers Hector Rodriguez and Seth Abner mentioned in an antitrust lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court docket on Thursday that Activision is unlawfully monopolizing the profitable marketplace for Name of Responsibility leagues and tournaments.
Name of Responsibility, a first-person-shooter sport first launched in 2003, is without doubt one of the trade’s all-time greatest sellers and helped propel Activision to billions of {dollars} in annual income, the lawsuit mentioned.
Activision mentioned in a press release that it’s going to “strongly defend towards these claims, which haven’t any foundation in reality or in regulation.” Activision mentioned it refused a pre-lawsuit demand from the plaintiffs for “tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.”
Microsoft acquired Activision final 12 months for $69 billion, in a deal that also faces U.S. Federal Commerce Fee scrutiny.
Activision in 2016 paid $46 million to purchase Main League Gaming, which the lawsuit referred to as the main Name of Responsibility competitors organizer.
League and match play for Name of Responsibility was a “vibrant, aggressive product market” till 2019, when Activision moved to open its personal league and remove competitors, the lawsuit mentioned.
Activision then imposed “draconian” contract provisions on groups and gamers, in response to the lawsuit.
“Groups that didn’t (or couldn’t) accede to Activision’s extortionate calls for had been lower out of the skilled Name of Responsibility market fully,” the lawsuit mentioned. Rodriguez’s firm HECZ LLC can also be a plaintiff.
Final 12 months, Activision settled a lawsuit by the U.S. Justice Division accusing the corporate of suppressing avid gamers’ wages in skilled esports leagues.
Activision agreed to chorus from putting any caps on salaries. It didn’t admit any wrongdoing.
The case is Hector Rodriguez, Seth Abner and HECZ LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc, U.S. District Courtroom, Central District of California, No. 2:24-cv-01287.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Enhancing by David Bario)
