The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit over Activision Blizzard's "Competitive Balance Tax" in the Overwatch and Call of Duty leagues that it says "penalized teams for paying esports players above a certain threshold and limited player compensation in these leagues." At the same time, the DOJ also submitted a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, will end the matter as long as Activision promises not to do it again.
The lawsuit notes that both Overwatch and Call of Duty are massively successful games, and that their respective pro leagues "have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Activision from franchise fees, sponsorship revenues, exclusive streaming deals with YouTube, and the Overwatch League’s television broadcast deal with Disney (including subsidiaries ESPN and ABC)." Like most other sports leagues, the Overwatch and Call of Duty leagues are made up of independently owned teams, who are in constant competition to sign and retain the best players.
