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CDL and YouTube
Image via Call of Duty League
Category:
CoD

Call of Duty lawsuit: What does the Activison ‘monopoly’ lawsuit mean for the CDL?

Activision isn't backing down without a fight.
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
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Published: Feb 16, 2024 01:07 pm

OpTic Gaming president Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez and Call of Duty legend Seth “Scump” Abner filed a lawsuit against Activision for its monopoly over the professional CoD market, leading to questions about the future of the Call of Duty League

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Scump and H3CZ seek $680 million in damages, claiming Activision has unlawfully monopolized the CDL’s sponsorships and revenue streams. The lawsuit alleges Activision made teams sign new terms protecting from any claims against the company, forced H3CZ to merge OpTic with Envy, failed to consider the best interest of players when agreeing to an exclusive streaming rights deal with YouTube, and more.

Scump and other Optic Gaming players competing in the CDL on-stage
Scump and H3CZ are taking a stand against the CDL. Photo via Call of Duty League

But for competitive CoD fans who don’t have time to read the full 44-page complaint, the question at the top of their minds would be—what does this all mean for the future of competitive CoD?

Is the Call of Duty League shutting down?

Based on Activision’s initial response to the lawsuit, there are currently no plans to shut down the Call of Duty League.

“We will strongly defend against these claims, which have no basis in fact or in law,” Activision said. “We are disappointed that these members of the esports community would bring this suit which is disruptive to team owners, players, fans, and partners who have invested so much time and energy into the Call of Duty League’s success.”

H3CZ and Scump are acting alone on behalf of OpTic Gaming in this lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege the 11 other original CDL teams are “co-conspirators” with Activision and allowed the monopoly to happen. If H3CZ and Scump worked with other team owners instead and had them file a lawsuit as well, this could have potentially turned into a class action lawsuit, and we would have been having a very different discussion about the future of the Call of Duty League.

This isn’t Activision’s first rodeo defending esports business practices. In April 2023, Activision settled with the US Department of Justice regarding an antitrust lawsuit over CDL and Overwatch League salaries, and agreed never to impose taxes limiting player compensation again.

So for now, at least, it should be business as usual for the league, which has its first slate of Major Two online qualifier matches this weekend.

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Author
Image of Ryan Lemay
Ryan Lemay
Ryan graduated from Ithaca College in 2021 with a sports media degree and a journalism minor. He gained experience as a writer with the Morning Times newspaper and then Dexerto as a games writer. He mainly writes about first-person shooters, including Call of Duty and Battlefield, but he is also a big FIFA fan. You can contact him at ryanlemay@dotesports.com.