The European Commission disagreed with the arguments of the FTC in an antitrust lawsuit against the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Canadian parents sued Epic Games because of Fortnite, one of the creators of Disco Elysium said he would continue to fight injustice in the studio, despite the return of €4.8 million, – we tell you what happened in the game industry for this weekend.
The European regulator stated that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) incorrectly substantiated a lawsuit against Microsoft related to the purchase of Activision Blizzard. In the lawsuit, the FTC cited the example of a deal between Microsoft and ZeniMax Media — allegedly, the corporation promised not to deprive other platforms of content, but then made the Starfield and Redfall games its exclusives. According to the American commission, the same fate may await Call of Duty. However, the European Commission pointed out that Microsoft had not violated any rules, since it had not committed itself not to make all new ZeniMax Media games exclusives.
A Microsoft representative told the media that the corporation will not yet publicly talk about the possible closing date of the deal with Activision Blizzard. Previously, the corporation assumed that the transaction could be completed by June 30, 2023.
▪️Conradical Games studio asked gamers not to buy its game The Outbound Ghost. According to the developers, the publisher Digerati published the console version of the title without permission in a “raw” form, and then refused to return the rights to the game. Now Conradical Games is considering going to court.
The Quebec court accepted a lawsuit from Canadian parents against Epic Games. The plaintiffs claim that Fortnite is capable of causing an addiction similar to cocaine addiction. In particular, they reported that the game caused psychological, physical and financial damage to their children. The parents demanded that Epic Games pay them compensation.
▪️Robert Kurvitz, the leading game designer of Disco Elysium, said in a comment to PC Gamer that he had seen a bank statement that supposedly confirms the return of €4.8 million to the ZA/UM studio. However, he pointed out that the source and legal nature of the money remained unclear to him. In addition, according to Kurvitz, Ilmar Kompus is still the majority shareholder of ZA/UM, which means that for the former key developers of Disco Elysium, the situation in the studio has not changed significantly. Therefore, Kurwitz intends to continue the proceedings with the leadership of ZA/UM.
▪️NPD Group has published statistics on the US gaming market for November 2022. According to analysts, last month Americans spent $4.7 billion on the games themselves (-5%), $1.3 billion on gaming hardware (+45%) and $289 million on gaming accessories (+10%). The best-selling game of November and the whole year was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.