- On Monday, the Justice Department prosecuted Activision Blizzard, Inc ATVI for restricting competition for players in Activision's Overwatch and Call of Duty professional esports leagues and suppressing the wages of esports players in these leagues.
- The complaint alleges that Activision's two esports leagues and the independently-owned teams in each league implemented a so-called Competitive Balance Tax that penalized teams in the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues, respectively, if a team's player compensation exceeded a threshold set by Activision.
- Simultaneously, the Antitrust Division filed a proposed consent decree to prohibit Activision from imposing any rule limiting player compensation in any of Activision's professional esports leagues.
- "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. Activision's conduct prevented that from happening," said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.
- Activision said, "The tax was never levied, and the leagues voluntarily dropped it from our rules in 2021," the Wall Street Journal reports.
- The Microsoft Corp MSFT acquisition target recently faced privacy invasion charges from workers.
- In 2022, Microsoft agreed to buy Activision for $69 billion, a deal that has faced antitrust scrutiny from U.S. and European regulators.
- Price Action: ATVI shares closed lower by 0.30% at $85.33 on Monday.
- Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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