The Call of Duty League (CDL), the professional e-sports league in CoD, has been hosted by Activision since 2020. In a lawsuit, two CoD legends are now demanding 680 million USD from the publisher: They claim that the CDL constitutes an unlawful monopoly.
What is this lawsuit about? On February 15, 2024, prominent members of the e-sports organization OpTic Gaming filed a lawsuit against the CoD publisher Activision. CEO Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez and ex-professional player Seth “Scump” Abner claim that Activision has established an unlawful monopoly over the e-sports scene in CoD through its Call of Duty League (CDL).
In a statement, Activision announced that it intends to “defend itself vigorously against the allegations.”
Activision has wielded its power “like a virtual atomic weapon”
What are the allegations? The indictment states that Activision allegedly has the sole right to enter into contracts with sponsors and broadcasters. Teams and players are prohibited from “participating in or supporting other professional ‘Call of Duty’ leagues.”
Thus, professionals are not allowed to participate in any commercial games, not even informal friendly matches on stream.
According to the indictment, these contract clauses have allowed Activision to enrich itself at the expense of the players in the CDL. The publisher has wielded its power “like a virtual atomic weapon,” the indictment states.
H3CZ also accuses Activision of not allowing him to participate in the CDL as the sole owner of OpTic in 2021, even though he had the financial means to pay for the unpaid portion of the “extortionate entry fee” of 27.5 million USD.
Instead, he had to team up with Envy Gaming Inc. and grant investors a 92.5% stake in OpTic.
H3CZ and Scump had to forgo various sources of income due to the CDL, resulting in them incurring damages in the millions.
Here you see some excerpts from the indictment in English:
Furthermore, Activision is also accused in the indictment of having acquired the competition from Major League Gaming in 2016 without the approval of the FTC and thus obtaining a complete monopoly over the professional CoD scene. Organizers of other commercial competitions would not receive CoD licenses.
The U.S. financial regulator has recently had its sights set on Activision due to the planned takeover by Microsoft.
What does Activision say? In a statement to Dot Esports, the publisher describes the allegations from H3CZ and Scump as unfounded and announces its intention to fight back. Additionally, they express disappointment that it has come to this:
Mr. Rodriguez (alias OpTic H3CZ) and Mr. Abner (alias Scump) demanded from Activision the payment of millions of dollars to avoid this unfounded legal dispute, and when their demands were not met, they filed suit. We will vigorously oppose these demands, which are neither factually nor legally justified. We are disappointed that these members of the e-sports community are filing this lawsuit, which is disruptive to team owners, players, fans, and partners who have invested so much time and energy into the success of the Call of Duty League.
Activision spokesperson to Dot Esports
There is also trouble regarding Activision elsewhere. After it seemed that the billion-dollar deal was finally in the bag and Microsoft was allowed to acquire Activision Blizzard for 69 billion USD, the U.S. financial regulator is now complaining: Microsoft has broken its promises.
Regulator says: Microsoft has lied to them – Must they release Activision Blizzard again?
