By Sagar V. Mankar Microsoft has reached a settlement with a group of gamers who had filed a lawsuit over the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. After nearly two years of legal disputes, both sides have agreed to an out-of-court settlement, officially ending the battle.
Let’s rewind to understand how this all started.
In December 2022, ten self-described “videogamers,” fans of popular Activision Blizzard franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, decided to take legal action. They filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Their main concern? That the merger of these two gaming industry giants could harm competition and give Microsoft too much “far-outsized” power in the market.
The plaintiffs, who owned various gaming platforms including PlayStation, PC, Nintendo Switch, and even Xbox, argued that the acquisition could lead to reduced consumer choice, higher prices, and limited competition.
Microsoft, however, maintained throughout the process that the deal would actually benefit gamers and developers by bringing “more games to more people.”
Despite this stance, the lawsuit added another layer of complexity to an already complicated acquisition process, which was facing scrutiny from regulatory bodies in the US, Europe, and the UK.
Nevertheless, in March 2023, the original case was dismissed by U.S. federal court in San Francisco. But the determined “gamers” didn’t give up. They filed an amended complaint, expanding their arguments to 73 pages (+18).
Microsoft also didn’t take this challenge lightly. The company criticized the gamers for waiting 11 months after the deal’s announcement to file the suit and then “wasting several additional months filing an implausible complaint.” Microsoft also expressed surprise upon learning that Sony had been sharing documents with the plaintiffs weeks before Microsoft was informed, following a subpoena in January 2023.
Despite these legal hurdles, Microsoft successfully closed the Activision Blizzard acquisition in October 2023, demonstrating that this lawsuit didn’t significantly impede the deal’s progress.
Fast forward to October 2024, and we finally have a resolution. As reported by the APN News and Pure Xbox, Microsoft has reached a settlement with the “gamers.” While the terms of the settlement haven’t been made public, both parties have agreed to dismiss the lawsuit and cover their own costs and fees.
Microsoft confirmed the end of the legal battle with a simple statement: “The parties have resolved the litigation.”
This announcement comes at an interesting time as Microsoft is going to introduce three Call of Duty titles to its Game Pass service. COD Black Ops 6 is slated to become the first day-one release on Xbox Game Pass, while Warzone and MW3 are also joining the service on the same day, that is October 25th.