🕹️ Monopoly!

Good Morning. The D.I.C.E. Awards took place last week, and Baldur’s Gate 3 and Spider-Man 2 cleaned house, taking home 5 and 6 awards respectively. No other game won more than 1 award. Let’s hope 2024 can match 2023 in terms of amazing game releases.

— Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: CDL Lawsuit

OpTic owner Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez and Call of Duty legend Seth "Scump" Abner have filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard has established an "unlawful monopoly" over the professional Call of Duty leagues, engaging in anti-competitive and extortionate practices to the detriment of players and teams. The suit claims that Activision Blizzard's actions, including acquiring Major League Gaming and imposing a $27.5 million entry fee for the CDL, have restricted competition and growth in the esports scene. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $680 million in damages, accusing Activision Blizzard of enriching itself at the expense of professional Call of Duty players and teams.

Activision Blizzard responded to the lawsuit, stating that Rodriguez and Abner demanded "tens of millions of dollars" to avoid litigation, and upon refusal, they filed the suit. Activision Blizzard vows to strongly defend against the claims, asserting that the lawsuit is meritless and disruptive to the esports community, including team owners, players, fans, and partners invested in the Call of Duty League's success. The outcome of the lawsuit could have significant implications for the future of the CDL, with uncertainties surrounding the ongoing 2024 CDL season and potential impacts on the esports ecosystem.

HUD

• 🔨 During the Xbox Business Update podcast last week, Xbox president Sarah Bond confirmed that the company would continue to make consoles despite rumors Xbox would stop producing hardware. Bond hyped the technical leaps for the next generation of Xbox, and hinted toward announcements later this year.

• 💰Epic Games reported that consumer spending on the PC Epic Games Store was up by 16%, with $950 million in revenue in 2023. Epic Games Store will make its iOS debut later this year, however only in Europe.

• 📉 Nintendo shares fell as much as 8.8% after reports came out that the Switch successor was being delayed until early 2025. While the company has not officially announced its next-generation hardware, Bloomberg reported that Nintendo partners were advised not to expect a new console this year.

MAJOR W

• ☁️ During the same Xbox Business Update podcast mentioned earlier, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that your entire library should finally be available for cloud gaming later this year.

• 🎮 Alienware partnered with the University of Colorado Boulder to open a new $1.2 million gaming and esports center on the school’s campus. The center was built for both open gameplay and varsity competition.

F IN THE CHAT

• 😔 Activision Blizzard is reportedly planning to lay off ~136 workers in its Cork, Ireland office, having filed a redundancy notification with the Irish Department of Enterprise last month. Microsoft laid off 1900 employees last month, including Activision Blizzard employees, causing the FTC to file a letter with the court.

• 🤏 While Helldivers 2 has been a massive success, developer Arrowhead has struggled to fix the capacity issues, with the current servers still unable to host the growing amount of concurrent players, despite efforts to increase the capacity.

CAREER CORNER

• Account Manager - Gaming and Esports — United Talent Agency (Los Angeles)

• Manager, Gaming — Red Bull (Dallas)

• Director, Game Design (Digital Gaming) — Mattel, Inc. (El Segundo, CA)

HIVE MIND

Was this email forwarded to you?

Subscribe to Loading Screen today and turn your gaming knowledge up to 11!