Microsoft Settles Gamer Lawsuit Over Activision Purchase

The final boss fight between a group of gamers and tech giant Microsoft, failed to materialise this week as both parties agreed to the dismissal of the lawsuit.

The Associated Press, citing a court filing on Monday, reported that besides agreeing to dismiss the lawsuit, both parties also agreed to over their own costs and fees. No other settlement terms were revealed.

It was back in December 2022 when a private consumer lawsuit was filed in the US, that alleged Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard would unlawfully restrict competition in the video game industry.

Lawsuit settled

The lawsuit was filed in a US federal court in San Francisco on behalf of 10 individual gamers in California, New Mexico and New Jersey who are fans of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise and other popular titles such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.

The private lawsuit sought an order to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision.

The proposed acquisition would give Microsoft “far-outsized market power in the video game industry,” the complaint alleged, “with the ability to foreclose rivals, limit output, reduce consumer choice, raise prices, and further inhibit competition.”

But now the lawsuit has been settled.

In a statement to the AP, Microsoft said “the parties have resolved the litigation”, without giving any further information.

Controversial deal

It took Microsoft over 22 months to close its controversial Activision Blizzard acquisition, with the the tech giant having to make multiple concessions to competition regulators around the world, including the UK’s CMA.

Shortly after the deal closed, Microsoft announced in January 2024 that it was laying off 1,900 workers out of the 22,000 people in the gaming division.

This represented 9 percent of Microsoft’s entire gaming division, and the layoffs were said to reduce “overlap”.

Besides the 1,900 staff being handed their P45s, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer also confirmed that Blizzard president Mike Ybarra was leaving the company.