Optic Gamings grundare Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez samt esportveteranen Scump har nyligen stämt Activision eftersom de båda anser att de skapat ett monopol kring esporten rörande Call of Duty. Enligt stämningen menar Optic att detta har skett vilket skadat esportorganisationen och deras proffsgamers:
"Activision's acquisition of Major League Gaming in late 2016 already had resulted in an extreme concentration of the professional Call of Duty market. Activision then cemented a complete monopoly over the professional Call of Duty market by refusing to grant licenses to organizers and operators of other commercial Call of Duty competitions."
Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez menar även att Activision tvingade honom att sälja en majoritet av sitt bolag för att få tävla på de premisser som Optic ville.
Bloomberg skriver:
"Multiple groups, including Activision, GameStop Corp., and Major League Gaming, used to organize open Call of Duty leagues and tournaments with modest entry fees for fans to watch top players compete in the first-person shooter video game, the suit filed in US District Court for the Central District of California says. But in late 2019, Activision allegedly took over the market and closed off all leagues except for the Activision Call of Duty league.
Playing professional Call of Duty, the massively popular game created and owned by Activision, is "the 'esport' equivalent of professional football," the suit says. The best players profit from the games through sponsorships, endorsements, and social media attention, the suit says.
But since the leagues and tournaments were brought under Activision's control, the suit says, players essentially can't earn compensation from other entities. A number of popular teams were allegedly cut out of competition because they didn't want to, or couldn't, agree to Activision's terms. Plaintiff Hector Rodriguez, a longtime leader of pro Call of Duty team OpTic, was forced into a "financially devastating" partnership to continue competing, the complaint says. Activision allegedly forced Rodriguez, known as "H3CZ," to partner with billionaire investors who demanded a 92.5% ownership share in his company.
Rodriguez had to pay a high entry fee, share portions of his arranged investor sponsorship with the gaming company, and couldn't seek outside sponsorships, according to the suit. Rodriguez sues alongside Seth Abner, known as "Scump," who is among the top-winning players in the game's history."