The so-called gamer’s lawsuit filed vs the Microsoft – Activision deal is soon set to be dismissed.
This lawsuit is completely independent of the FTC lawsuit seeking to block the deal. As shared by Idas over at Resetera:
“MLex reports that the lawsuit from gamers has been dismissed and they’ll need to redraft their complaint.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley raised concerns about a lack of evidence/numbers, precise argument about the harm arising from the deal and the definition of the relevant markets.”
This is a completely separate lawsuit from the one filed by the FTC to block the deal, and is being presided upon by Judge Michael D. Chappell.
This lawsuit was filed by ten individuals, who identify as gamers who play Activision Blizzard games, including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. As reported by AP, this suit was filed in December after the FTC lawsuit. However, there is more to this case than meets, the eye, as you will see below.
Florian Mueller, a game and app developer who has also had a lot of experience on the legal side of the games industry as an activist, shared his commentary on this situation on Twitter (edited for clarity):
“MLex apparently attended yesterday’s court hearing in San Francisco. The judge will soon grant a motion to dismiss the so-called gamers’ (actually lawyers’ and more appropriately losers’) lawsuit without prejudice, meaning it’s back to the drawing board. They can refile.
Why not “gamers” but “lawyers” or “losers”? Because it makes no economic sense for a gamer to sue Microsoft when the worst-case scenario is basically to buy an Xbox. Just a gamble by lawyers hoping to earn fees. (sic) those lawyers LOSE merger cases all the time.
Those lawyers/losers sought to piggyback on the FTC’s case.”
So what Florian is saying, is that this lawsuit is somewhat unserious, as it isn’t really the plaintiffs listed who are pursuing the case, as it is the lawyers. They are hoping the FTC wins their case, so that they can also get an easy win, and make some money off of Microsoft along the way.
Florian shared further context on this case in his blog a few days earlier. It turns out the lawyers in this case tried to subpoena Sony too but they aren’t interested. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan is making the lawyers serve their papers at his country of residence in the UK. This means a bigger hassle for them, while Jim is busy arguing their case vs the deal to the regulators instead.
This may not be the last we will hear of this case, if these lawyers redraft their case and refile. Ultimately, it’s only a sideshow to everything else going on in the Microsoft – Activision deal.
