Gaming IndustryMicrosoft has finally managed to settle against 10 gamers in courtWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustryMicrosoft has finally managed to settle against 10 gamers in courtWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
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It’s with my hat in my hand and a sorrowful expression on my face that I, standing outside the proverbial front door in this metaphor, must give you the sad news that 10 gamers have fallen in battle. They’re still alive, it’s just that Microsoft has settled against them in court “with prejudice”. In case you’re out of the loop, back in December 2022, agroup of 10 Call of Duty fansfiled a federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft opposing its acquisition ofActivisionBlizzard for $68.7 billion.
Thelawsuit was tossedin March 2023, as a judge determined that the plaintiffs had not proven it was “reasonably likely” that Microsoft would make games like Call of Duty exclusive, adding that their evidence was “unpersuasive”.
While the exact agreement of the settlement isn’t clear, considering how little steam the suit itself seems to have gathered—and the fact that the suit has now been dismissed “with prejudice” as perHollywood Reporter, meaning it can’t be refiled.
I’m being speculative here, but I’m not stupendously optimistic that these determined gamers have scored any sort of decisive blow against a company rich enough to make a $68.7 billion purchase. At the moment, all we know is that lawyers have agreed that “each party shall bear their own costs and fees”—the details will be under lock and key for a while yet. Microsoft may have very well thrown money at the headache to make it go away, but it’s got that in spades.
I’m being a bit blithe, here—and it’s mostly because the image of 10 Call of Duty players rocking up to trade fisticuffs with Microsoft in the courtroom is pretty funny (I wonder if Bill Gates carries brass knuckles on him, just in case). However, the actual consequences of the purchase have been markedly less funny.
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Since the acquisition,Microsoft cut 1,900 jobs at Xbox and Blizzardandclosed several studios, including the creators of genuine success story Hi-Fi: Rush and Arkane Austin—withanother 650 layoffs following in Septemberof this year. It’s been a bit of a bloodbath, though it’s notnecessarilyall bad. Microsoft’snotably more pro-union, allowing Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team to form one500 people strong. Every $68.7 billion stack of dollar notes has its silver lining.
TOPICSBlizzard EntertainmentActivision Blizzard
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Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
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