Activision Under Legal Scrutiny – The DOJ Fight Against ESports Leagues 🕹

Activision Under Legal Scrutiny – The DOJ Fight Against ESports Leagues

After the trials and tribulations from Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, new reports show the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Activision related to a new topic: eSports. Dating back 45 years ago, eSports began as a new form of entertaining competition, conducted solely in a virtual setting on a video game. In the world, eSports now generates roughly $900 million a year in sponsorship and advertising, with the entire market expected to grow to around $6 billion by the end of the decade. With younger generations’ appetite for video games exponentially growing, eSports now has a viewer base that exceeds that of all American professional sports except the NFL. Now, how did Activision Blizzard become involved in competitive eSports leagues? 

With the parent company’s myriad of games under its belt, each popular competitive game holds its own eSports league which is owned and operated by Activision. The two leagues under legal question involve Call of Duty and Overwatch, both of which are owned by Activision Blizzard and are arguably two of the most popular first-person shooters at this time. The DOJ believes that the videogame company pursued restrictions that both limited competition and players’ salaries, violating federal antitrust laws. The restriction in question is the so-called “Competitive Balance Tax”, which is a tax that was set on teams if their player’s salaries exceeded a certain limit set by Activision Blizzard. Although physical professional sports teams also contain salary caps, these are not set directly by the league, but, are collectively bargained between the league and its player unions. In this case, Activision was the sole proprietor that enacted these restrictions and penalties, and could very well be subject to the complaints just filed this Monday.

Want to learn how to invest? Download the Invstr app, where you can play Fantasy Finance and manage a virtual investment portfolio or open a brokerage account and invest for real. Take our interactive investing course on Invstr Academy and become a better investor today!

I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.

Share:

More Posts

Load More
Get your daily Invstr Crunch

Get the market news and updates you need, delivered to your inbox or available on our daily podcast.

Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Snapchat Tiktok
learn
products
plan
Who we are
blog

Risk Disclosure:

Invstr is not a bank and banking services are provided by Vast Bank, N.A.

Brokerage and Banking services are currently only available to U.S. residents.

Invstr app and web services are provided by Invstr Ltd. Advisory services are provided by Invstr Financial LLC, an investment adviser registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) details of which can be obtained here. Securities brokerage and custody services are provided by Apex Clearing, a broker dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC. There is no bank guarantee on securities and securities may lose value.

Investing involves risk and can lead to losses. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Invstr app and web services are provided by Invstr Ltd. Invstr+ advisory services are provided by Invstr Financial LLC, an investment adviser registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Securities brokerage and custody services are provided by Apex Clearing, a broker dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC. There is no bank guarantee on securities and securities may lose value. Vast Bank N.A. a nationally chartered bank and member of the FDIC, provides the banking products, including the products and services related to digital asset accounts. As with any asset, the value of Digital assets can go up or down and there can be a substantial risk that you lose money buying or holding digital assets. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding Digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition. Your digital account does not support wallet to wallet transferring of your digital assets (i.e. cryptocurrencies) outside the platform. Any Digital Assets in your digital asset account are not insured by any government entities, including but not limited to FDIC or SIPC. The Invstr Visa® Debit Card is issued by Vast Bank, N.A. pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A Inc and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Invstr Ltd, Invstr Financial LLC and Invstr Securities Ltd are subsidiaries of Marketspringpad Holdings (collectively “Invstr”) and Invstr is solely responsible for the application services and website content.

Watchlists provided when users first access the service are not a recommendation to invest. Instead they are provided to help users better navigate the service. Users are free to edit and create their own watchlists. From time to time, Invstr will suggest instruments solely based on an individual’s interest and the interest levels of the Invstr community. The statistical and portfolio builder models generated by Invstr do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Comments provided by Invstr leaders, influencers or members of the Invstr Community are not recommendations and should not be construed as such. Invstr does not endorse the content or the positions posted by them. Their investment approach, and that of the models provided by Invstr, may be different from yours and may not be appropriate for you.