The Call of Duty Lawsuit Explained
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- čas přidán 15. 02. 2024
- Call of Duty icons Scump and and H3CZ have filed a lawsuit against Activision who they believe hold an ‘unlawful monopoly’ over the game’s esports scene.
They’re seeking $680 million damages, meanwhile Activision says the claims have no basis in fact or law.
It’s a battle that may shape the future of competitive CoD, and one that some have seen coming for a long time…
Written, Hosted & Produced by: Danny Burke (@lurkeyburke)
Edited by: Jason Durante
Thumbnail by: William O'Keefe (@magoo_o)
All footage courtesy of: pastebin.com/CizFQbKK
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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Activision playing the victim card while, throughout the years, fucking their player base with mediocre games
Who cares? Sue me
Yeah, but people keep buying their games. They don't have to listen because the money is still coming in. Same with EA and their madden games. Doesnt matter they are trash, because people are gonna buy them anyway. The only way to have a substantial impact would be a mass boycott, which will never happen. COD players too hooked.
Ok? Don't play it. Get good at another game if you think its mediocre. Don't waste your time on a game that can have its anti-cheat bypassed in a day. Even tho that's like 90% of games anyways. Faceit is still hard to bypass cause they RAT your PC for everything you do, Look up ect ect ect but don't cry when you GPU is fried after a rouge dev throws in a bitcoin miner and cashes out.
The fact they told Hecz he needed additional backing to be able to own a team, and telling him he wasn’t the right type of owner GIVEN THE FACT THAT WITHOUT HECTOR COD ESPORTS WOULDNT EVEN EXIST💀, it’s down right fucking disrespectful and I’m hoping they win this shit
your insane, hecz did a lot for Optic, but that is beyond reaching
Optic was the first biggest most popular clan in call of duty… that is what started everything, then faze followed and started and cod was in the limelight since then.
@@CarlosSanchez-uh9ud lmao, you sound young
@@CarlosSanchez-uh9uddamn you mean cod didn't sell millions of copies until optic and faze made it cool 😯
@@scottyee707I’ve been playing cod since cod 3 and he’s not wrong faze and optic got cod to it’s peak popularity
So many of us were against the idea of "franchise" but there were a lot of clowns in the CoD community who wanted it to be more pRoFeSsiOnAL by having this dumb city based nonsense. That only works for real sports. Hopefully this is the last year of the terrible and awful trash that is the cdL
Not just CoD, this is literally in part why Overwatch’s OWL scene completely died with millions of dollars of debt.
Literally everybody knew it was not good. Except the executives at Activison/Blizzard who were so deadset on making the “next NFL league”. Even worse when they made it CZcams exclusive, even worse when they made merch sales pooled, so the worst and best teams would be given similar cuts, and why there isn’t a decent shirt for OWL because no team wants to spend more to make less.
Bobby Kotick and upper management really were deadset on killing every big franchise they have.
LoL has been franchised for more than 5 years now and (aside from NA) it's esport is booming more than ever, so i'd say is more of an Activision problem than a Franchise problem (That said, in league we don't do that city based bullshit)
@@PichiStail And the LCS isn't thriving at all in League lol
Franchising hasn't really resulted in much good for NA or EU. Conceptually all its really been is a massive investment by orgs who assumed the esports bubble wasn't gonna pop as hard as it has in the past few years.
@@PichiStail saying that League esport is booming is so dumb lol, LEC entry is blocked off almost completely and the production team just got butchered, LCS is almost fucking DEAD, only the LCK is doing ok but it's not without it's amount of problem either.
A couple of games have done similar events. CS, Siege, Rocket League, shit Smash Melee (not as many events now). They would run larger events in nicely rented out buildings. This has worked forever. If it's not broken don't fix it. Also why tf is merch pooled?@@PichiStail
Oh shit this has some merit. I didn't realize Activision was so in depth with their control of CoD the way they ignore it.
no it doesn't, no different the UFC with Reebok or basically any pro league...
It really doesn't have any merit whatsoever. I'd love it if it did, but unfortunately they'll get nowhere with this case
This is literally every sport what
@@DanskiV2 the only part i think has merit is the part where activision essentially told em to sign a contract right then and there or GTFO, without an opportunity for legal counsel. otherwise i agree, not much merit.
@@scottyee707do the fighters have to pay $25m in order to join the UFC? If the answer is no, then this is nothing like the UFC/Reebok deal.
Also. Bellator/ PFL/ Eagle all exist. Fighters can literally fuck off and make some/ more money outside of the UFC. COD players have no alternative COD eSports scene to go to. Activision shut all of them down with cease and desists.
Woke up to the man Crone aka CDL Intel dropping this and man what a bombshell he dropped on my tl. Can't wait to see where this goes i'm riding with the boys in green on this.
I wonder if any of these laws could apply to Nintendo prohibiting Smash Bros. tournament prize pools?
Nah, Nintendo goes off Japanese law.
The Smash Bros situation is different because Nintendo have the right to refuse the use of their IP in commercial competitions. This lawsuit & the other Activision suit mentioned in the video relate to unfair & unlawful practices within an _existing_ competition that's conducted with Activision's full approval.
@@medea27 cool, ty for the info!!
Nintendo is safe about what they do.
'invested so much time and energy into cdl success', this is an insane line in the statement. They have been cutting staff and the amount of games played for years, taking half the money earned from orgs and players, limiting brand deals, fining players for running sponsored streams, not allowing show matches in thew off season. such a shitty company, hope hecz and scump succeed with this cause they killed the scene over the last 5 years
If they can prove it that they were forced to sign a contact under duress they can get it voided
Why in the world would you delay a case like this? Instant you got hit with that sign this or you're out. Boom, send it.
especially considering they had all the time in the world to do this BEFORE Microsoft owned them. Now they are going up againt the legal team of one of the richest companies on the planet. Regardless of who is right or wrong, M$ could just drag this out and drain Hecz, and scumps pockets until there is no more Optic.
@awzup57 the lawers most likely took it on a we take a percentage of the winnings if we lose we get nothing basis or are paid a yearly salary with the company and ths court fees aren't paid until after and will be part of the settlement so they can't "drag it out" that's a movie fallacy that doesn't happen
A lawsuit is a much bigger decision than most people understand.... they are financially & emotionally draining, and even if you win it can ruin your life or career. It's not about what you _know_ is right, it's about what you can _prove_ in court.... and when you're going up against heavy hitters like these corporations you better have a solid case first. So they aren't "delaying"... they are preparing.
Only winners in this are the lawyers. They waited to long to sue in my opinion. Not only that but it’s Activisions IP address and they own all of the game and league. So this is gonna be a huge battle for Scump and Hecz.
I’m sure an active lawsuit while scump was playing would not be good for him at the time
With the Greenwall all the way here as a long time lover of OG and a long time hater of Activision. Unfortunately if I was a betting man I'd have to put my money on Activision due to Microsoft owning them now but who knows maybe justice will prevail one of these days.
It's reasonable to say they might not win, but for those calling it meritless have you lost your mind? If this doesn't get thrown out with Anti-SLAPP yall gonna look real dumb.
Anti-SLAPP is usally for deffimation cases, so it shouldn't have anything to do with this case. I.E. why Johnny Depp sued Amber Herd in Virgina and not California
So sad what the cod esports scene has become. OpTic is STILL hard carrying the success of the scene since over a decade and Activision is still treating them like they are no a crucial part of their entire ecosystem.
yeah lmao. Im just all for them just leaving and focus on content instead lol, shits gonna die harder than it already is doing.
CoD is not an esport, it literally has auto aim
They have not won in years 😂😂
@@p3ntDoesn’t matter. They carry the viewing numbers, and have so since they got into the scene.
I played against the OG Optic clan from CoD 2. Yes Xbox 360 CoD 2. Back when we all changed our gamer tags to match. Battled on Game battles and NX Gamers
Like most monopoly cases the outcome is going to depend on how the judge defines a market. Unfortunately, its pretty hard to see a judge defining Call of Duty as a market, when it is a piece of IP directly owned by Activision, is just one of dozens of E Sports, and not even close to the biggest e sport by any means. Further OpTic is involved in a number of other e sports so they cant really say this hurting them in the e sports market as a whole.
I am guessing the judge will say look Activision owns the CDL and COD completely, there can be no competition in the Call of Duty competitive space from other entities without violating their rights as copyright holders. Copyright laws are fundamentally anti-competition and designed to ensure the control of the copyright owner. If you want to be part of their league and IP you have to play by their rules and if not then you have all the other leagues you can join or are already in in the e sports arena.
I could see Hecz argument if this was traditional sports but the difference is the MLB, NFL etc dont own the actual game of baseball and football and thus can be seen to be a competitive market where cod simply is not.
Intellectual property (IP) law and antitrust law serve different purposes and address different aspects of business conduct. While IP law protects the rights of creators and owners of intellectual property, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents, antitrust law focuses on promoting competition and preventing anticompetitive behavior, including monopolies.
In some cases, there may be overlaps or conflicts between IP law and antitrust law. For example, a company that owns valuable IP rights may have a dominant position in the market, potentially leading to concerns about monopolistic behavior. However, having IP rights alone does not necessarily constitute a monopoly, as long as the exercise of those rights does not unlawfully restrict competition. Which is exactly what the CDL is doing restricting competition and regulating the market monopolizing and monetizing it 😂😂 ggz
The issue is: There's no "official Competitive" from COD. Games like LOL, CS, etc. the tournaments are held by 3rd party organizers that have the licensed of the game, Activision dosen't even want to gave licenses, so if you want your team to be in "the league" you need to pay to enter... H3CZ will not be dumb enough to make a lawsuit as big as this knowing that if he fails Optic can be in a lot of trouble....
@@dallio900 but what has Optic to do with it? Just a heads up, Hecz doesn't own Optic.
@@malte-frederickahrenberger he is still the "know face of Optic" and still have ownership (not the mayority); so this can harm the image of Optic gaming if this trial dont go well on H3cz's side, so the board of Optic would have a hard decision to take regarding him, since this can have any collaterall damage on orgs don't wanting to have Optic on the tournament to "evade dramas".
@@malte-frederickahrenberger Hecz does own Optic, Infinite esports, Is a parent company but Optic is still in the name of Hecz
Look Internet: a half-billion-dollar lawsuit in 2024 that actually makes sense.
Since Activision was acquired by Blizzard I'm not surprised they're killing the esports community, just look at starcraft, game with great potential, completely dead.
@@forestbertrandActivision Merged with Vivendi creating Activision Blizzard. It's Microsoft who bought them.
@@dereklewis4321yes and before that blizzard was bought out by activision… and ever since activision bought blizzard they went down hill hard. The big bad guy is activision.
thought you’d mention overwatch league literally killing itself somehow
SC2 tournaments dead? Other Esports wish they could pack in fans like Starcraft and had prize pools of well over a half million in multiple tournaments.
@@taoofjester4113 emphasis on the word - had.
Now barely even a thousand people watch it. I loved that game, even played in a few low level tournaments myself.
Blizzard somehow ruining some of the best esports scenes overtime from overwatch StarCraft now cod good lord
If they win they should put the money to bringing back mlg/game battles just give most the money back to the fans through turnomemets to revive the esport scene
Hecz has said they looked into buying mlg from activision and was told they wernt selling no matter what
If this doesn’t go well for activation, I’d assume someone would come for Nintendo shortly after
Well they are right no third party org will ever run a COD tournament because of the CDL.
Without optic I wouldn't even care for competitive cod.
they forced already existing teams to pay then $25m for slots in a league that turned to shit within 6 months because of the poor operation of the league
Bottom line...Hector created & built The Optic with his hands with some help from some youngsters that he believed in.
Okay Dwayne the rock Johnson
i hope they win just cos i wanna see activision cough up ludicrous amounts of money LOL
Drop in the bucket for Activision.
This is why lethal company palworld and helldivers 2 easily outsold activision’s triple AAA release on steam.
Anything that is bad for Activision is good for society.
680 Million dollars
bro activision... they weren't demanding money over meritless litigation, they gave you the chance to settle out of court
That much money means they're looking for a payday not justice.
Out of curiosity, since I’m unable to grasp this really. How is this different than Riot running their league tournaments? Doesn’t Riot have full control of the tournaments and similar to this, 100% monopoly on the competitive league of legends scene? Or if I’m mistaken, someone explain it to me hahaha
The real issue is the fact that riot actually puts love and money into their esport scene . The players profit , they profit and the fans get a dope experience . The cdl is being treated as a cash cow , every year activation has been laying staff off and cutting the number of events down to a laughable 4( mind you pre monopoly we had up to 25-30 events a year . Ranging from eswc to mlg sponsored events). They just simply refuse to give any sorta attention to the competitive scene outside the bare minimum. I’m sure riot doesn’t sue and dmca local colleges and such for putting on league matches unlike our friends over at blizzard
why is this not a class action ls
Considering how it was with MLG/GameBattles-area then after MLG-era, you can tell Activision was doing a monopoly
Making the game more causal-friendly is what killed cod and many other great games.
CoD / Activision are the biggest clowns ever.
The biggest cheaters on call of duty are people that work for Activision. Selling COD cheats covertly. SMF
Can we sue Activision for killing SM2?
$680 million? scump must be dreaming lmao
I'm pretty sure that money is distributed among the CDL teams with every team getting an equal cut, roughly equal to the amount they had to spend to buy a franchise spot in the CDL
@@lukerosacker5370 even then, it speaks to the ignorance of the owners. like, for a game that gets 200k viewers during grand finals, they want to fork over tens of millions for a team slot? it was so obvious that it was a scam from day one. hell, bobby kotick himself announced the creation of both leagues. when has bobby kotick ever done something good for any industry? he took their money and ran, and now that the interest rates are too high, they want to sue activision? what's next, lcs teams suing riot games?
@@m4a1snerfed If it was a scam from day one, then it's all the more reason to sue. League of Legends LCS teams are actually allowed to play in sanctioned tournaments (IEM and Kespa were two) and unsanctioned events as long as it's not Summoner's Rift. This is why CJ Entus Frost was able to play an ARAM match against Cloud 9 even way back at KCON 2014
He'd only see about 20 mill with the win. Plus, he's probably worth 3 already.
@@Laidback_616 It's a gamble on the future. Worst case scenario, they walk away with nothing. Middle case scenario, they get money back. Best case scenario, the companies have to allow a general license for the competitive scene with few/no restrictions.
Bro, your videos are gold.
I dont even play COD and im still upset that they treat players and orgs like that.
Hope the boys win this massively on all counts.
Take a scoop out of this rotten degenerate cesspool of a company that is Activision.
A good way to kill steam after f'ing up all my welds
All these AAA gaming studios are run by investors' pockets.
680 Million? Dude just added zeros and said "Sounds good."
Rooting for Scump and Hecz
Stop making deals with these kids.
We might even see a bunch of Saudi money come even more into play than just a random multi game tournament for millions. They might just buy out the COD league
Anyone that bought cpd better get some of that money
Activision is the new Machinima
So....They want you to do everything while they do nothing......and they want you to give them everything?? ya this shit stinks!
It would be ironic during the discovery phase of the suit if all of the cheating accusations and nonsense get exposed and forced to be corrected
As scummy as it is, they weren't ever forced into any of this, which will be the major defense against them, they could have walked away. I don't know if the law actually provides any sort of protection for this sort of stuff, not a lawyer, maybe it does, but it seems completely untenable.
Aint this the same thing LoL did?? Franchise their competitive side and make the team pay?? Its nothing new. Am i missing something?? Like they are getting in a suit just to whine?
RIP COD. Officially.
Uh they own the IP. Hecz and all them don't seem to comprehend they are trying to build on someone elses property. Also of course they don't want Hecz, he caters to a certain childish and unprofessional style of company.
The fall is more than deserved
This video needs to be expanded on. There are a lot of idiots in the comments defending Activision here and clearly do not understand what laws are in place that they are allegedly breaking.
Okay.? So what are those laws.?
It’s just laughable anyone thinks this amount of money is reasonable. Playing a fucking video game. NFL players don’t deserve the money they get. Cod players in gaming chairs with lumbar support making hundreds of thousands… pathetic
@@JunFromIT laws against unfair competition practices.
@@lck0ut348 hmm? I dont get it. Explain please.
@@Papajohnstuffedcrust My guy these are the parameters for payout, not the actual payout the judge is likely to give if they do. SMH
So like riot then? Controlling the entire league pro scene? :p
What a shit take from activation. They literally didn’t even try to bring up an argument. Just called their claims having no basis.
Because they dont? These guys are basically saying ativision isnt allowed to use their property how they want to.
I guess Hecs and Optic Gaming realise Call of Duty esports are about die and they need to money. Unfair pressures? LOL adult decisions you have made. Not a chance they win this but they have this killed competitive call of duty.
I am lost. He’s been benefit from that monopoly his all career.
Yea this wont go anywhere.
MLG Fuckin had ot man. I will never understand the shift from them to in house competition holders like OWL Or CDL. Even Halos HCS is a shell of what halo MLG was.
Anyone surprised by this needs to get their head out the clouds, mlg cod is over and will never be what it was.
Kinda find hard to feel for hecz cause he was one the owners back in 2019 when all this shit was revealed that clowned smaller orgs for being priced out. Dude sold out hard but doesn’t negate the fact that this league and the franchise model is Killing the scene
He bought it back
Ok its funny no other real team is doing this other then them who are just shooting themself in the foot and think its smart
This is what you get when you fuck over your player base… and with the work environment at blizzard I coulda guessed that it was just as bad at activition. Doesn’t help that activition releases not even mid CoDs anymore but straight up disappointments
I don't care about call of duty what so ever, but I just dont picture a world where a lawsuit against activision works out in anyone's favor but activision.
MLG is so much cooler than CDL
Bro if Microsoft beat the activision merger monopoly lawsuit they will beat this. It’s sad because they shouldn’t have, but the people in charge of the government keep getting kick backs to ignore the illegal shit.
how is this illegal though? This is just some entitled kids throwing a fit
@@rojjter9721 but if they are treating certain people differently by giving different goalpost standards to different people, they can’t do that everyone has to be treated the same and have the same opportunity to be allowed into a league that’s supposed to be open to anyone to compete. And forcing people to sign things under duress is also incredibly illegal.
@@Tex_actual it's a franchise league though, it's not "open to everyone". Look at league of legends, that is proof that this is not something illegal or new. It's just Americans being sue happy
@@rojjter9721 LoL isn't American owned. Asian owned companies don't follow American laws. Google is free.
@@rojjter9721 Yes it is franchised, BUT you also cant set the goal post differently of differnt potential franchisee and not expect issues to come up. the problem is the clearly were not operating in good faith.
kinda feels like it's the same thing w/ apex
It's a shame that CoD doesn't have a better owner than Activision. I used to watch MLG back in the day around Black Ops 2 era and the competitive scene have become worse and worse for every year because Activision sucks.
I wonder if there's a coincidence on waiting Until Microsoft actually owns Activision to go forward with this lawsuit
Cdl should of never happen CWL over CDL
I don’t know what to think of this. I will say activision comment on the law suit sounds very disingenuous blaming them for disrupting the COD league, come on activision has been slowly suffocating cod as a esport ever since it launched. Everyone sees where it’s headed Im also curious why them as individuals are litigating and not optic as an org or optic as the CDL team
Activision never fails to ruin everything they touch
Lmaooo heck and stump bout to waste millions
They had the opportunity to act as it happened but took too long
"E-Sports" is just an advertising venture to sell hoodies, nothing more. Sorry yall fell for it.
What a dumb lawsuit. Activevison owns the game and the rights to it do they can do whatever they please. It’s the same thing with riot games owning LOL and setting the rules.
The fact that Scump waited until retirement to file this already has me a bit suspicious.
Hasn’t there been instances where he spoke out and got railed by activision so waiting till now might be for that reason
@@daylightdies7194I vaguely remember him tweeting some stuff about a black ops game years ago and getting shit on by the bald guy that owns the studio. I know his name, I just think he's a tool.
Hecz gave up over 92%!? Holy shit man...I hope they win this. I religiously watched Scump and OpTic back in the day; it's pretty cool seeing them leading a charge that could change the industry forever.
"Call of Duty League's Succcess" LMFAO just like the overwatch leagues success too I bet?? ahahaha
Lol CoD was getting so big when it was mlg and what not. You litterally could see the decline the moment activision took over. Literally killed the esport in a year
If Scump wins then maybe we'll see them do a Overwatch Championship Series style esports which is meant to he friendlier and less professional like OWL and CDL are. Older OW teams are retuening after retieing for a few years
If you have purchased a CoD game in the last 15 years you are a part of this problem. Stop supporting this garbage company and the garbage games they make and they will disappear.
Reminder that hecz mocked TKs owner when the league was founded because TKs owner rightfully pointed out small orgs were forced out or forced to partner with billionaire investors. That tweet was deleted by hecz shortly after.
Yup don't feel bad for optic/hecz at all they spear headed the franchise change
there is no case they own and make call of dude its there IP
Immediately my thought. Riot does this with their games and Nintendo to an extent. They own the game/IP and get to decide how it is used, monetized, and how a competitive scene runs.
you must not understand what a monopoly is and why its illegal
Riot and Nintendo are NOT American owned companies.
@@moneyovaeverything1942 Right, but there are a bunch of esports leagues. the CDL is not really a monopoly. And no Court is going to say "Nah Activision, YOU HAVE to let these companies use your IP/trademark for their leagues."
@@moneyovaeverything1942 you must not understand IP law and why they got no case
Scump has always been a bad player at the lower end of the skill curve.
Ahhh.. money. :)
They have nothing. Activision/Blizzard is the sole owner of CoD and therefore have the final say on how their product is used and by who because they would be infringing on copyright. Activision played nicely for like a decade with even bankrolling Champs ( I think). The only thing Hecz can do to recover some damages is to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the CDL was nothing but a skewed in Activision/Blizzards favour scam, which it was, as was the OWL. How can you justify a buy-in requirement in the 8 figures with no proof of this ever becoming successful? Not only that but Activision/Blizzard would receive a massive % of any future sale of a franchise and even had a major say in whether or not a franchise could be sold to a buyer. It was clearly a house of cards built on the side of a highway to trick old money Venture Capitalist firms into buying into the esports bubble during lockdown. They spoke a big game and now look, everyone involved EXCEPT Activision/Blizzard got fucked in the ass. I think Hecz needs to convince everyone who was involved with the OWL or CDL to join him in this lawsuit because there was a lot of money spent for nothing. Also, I dont think Activision/Blizzard have a monopoly on the market. The market is esports and in the grand scheme of esports, call of duty isnt even a B tier esport
This is brain dead stuff right? Obviously the owner of the GAME is going to have a monopoly over its GAME! that’s like saying it’s not fair that formula one has a monopoly over single seat open wheel racing? What on earth are they getting at
Formula one doesn't have a monopoly though. Anyone can start a new single seat open wheel racing league/competition and formula one can't do anything about it. According to this video however, Activision prevented others from creating their own COD league. They abused their power over the game to create a monopoly on COD esports and these players claim that this is ilegal.
By the way there are many similar lawsuits that were won. Microsoft for example was sued by the EU for forcing Windows users to use the preinstalled browser 'Internet Explorer' and Microsoft lost the case.
Formula one doesn’t have a monopoly. There are tons of open wheel racing series in the world.
The very game that made these guys who they are today and they want to try and sue em? It aint that deep.
I honestly believe them they love call of duty and always have i promise activision did all of it
And ppl will still play their games and let them keep doing this stupid shit.
Gamers or lawyers are trying to get paid. Who now owns Activision Blizzard King? Microsoft. They are trying to get money they did not earn . Who's really behind this so-called lawsuit ? That's the question. Another attempt of gamers attempting to get money from Microsoft.
I can't believe how much I don't care
CDL ruined COD Esports
Cod was never fun to watch as a esport 0 skill biggest learning curve is sound ques that are blatant and having a decent shot the ultimate casual esport for guys who couldn't play R6 or cs go
This lawsuit is not going anywhere.
why didnt they just start another league?
According to the video if you watched it. They were literally not allowed to go start a new one.
I didnt even bother cause im making food mb
@@ClinicalTremors
@@ClinicalTremors 🤣 ppl really not understanding how serious a monopoly is and why its illegal
I see a lot of entitled gamers, imagine telling a company who made something they don't own the thing they made. If it was something inspired by it fair enough but you are literally complaining that they're system they built and own and run isn't making you enough money.
Play a different game if you don't like the way the game is run.
Yea....not feeling sorry for them, they made this bed now they gotta lie in it
Activision:
Make shit game
Kill their player base
Play victim