February 17, 2024 • 20 mins
In this episode, I talked about Activision Blizzard sued by Esports Pros; PezRadar earned his sword; new Campfire Chat coming up; Diablo
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
- It is time for Shattered Soul Stone
featuring the latest newsfrom Sanctuary and beyond.
Each episode a heroic partyof Nephilim Band together
to help keep you informed on everything in
the Diablo universe.
(00:28):
And now your Diablo Community podcast
- Coming to you fromsomewhere in sanctuary.
This is episode 4 4 6of Shattered Soul Stone,
your Diablo Community podcast.
This episode is called Sword and Award.
It is February 17th,2024. And this is Jen.
(00:49):
I got a whole bunch of stuffto talk about in this one
and we'll just see how long this takes.
It's not gonna be an overly long show.
We do try to keep itdown about 30 minutes,
but we'll see how this goes.
First of all, I've got a few articles here
criticizing Activision Blizzard
and you'll hear that just uh,
in just a second in different ways.
'cause obviously every
article is gonna be a little different.
(01:09):
So this is from Variety
and it's titled Activision Blizzard, sued
by eSports Pros seeking at least
$680 million alleging monopoly over Call
of Duty leagues and tournaments.
The gaming company, which is now part
of Microsoft calls thelitigation meritless.
And there's a picture from a Call
(01:30):
of Duty game at the top of this article.
Two, professional eSportsplayers are demanding
that at least $680 million inaggregate monetary damages in
a lawsuit against Microsoft'sActivis Blizzard alleging the
game company holds and quoteunlawful 100% monopoly.
End quote over professionalleagues and tournaments.
(01:52):
For first person shooter Call of Duty,
Activision Blizzard has used its quote,
unlawful monopoly power
to prevent would-be competitorsfrom entering the market,
as well as to coerce themarket's other participants in
particular professionalcall of duty players
and team owners to acquiesce acquiesce
to extortionate financial terms.
(02:14):
The lawsuit said the two eSportplayers suing Activision are
Hector Rodriguez, known by his Call
of Duty handle H three cz,founder of the Optic Gaming Team
and Seth Abner known for hisgamer stamp Sculp, no Call
of Duty League teamsare named as plaintiffs.
And this lawsuit callsthe other teams in the CDL
(02:35):
Co-conspirators in perpetratingdivision's alleged monopoly
and says Plaintiffsreserve the right to name
as defendants some or all of the entities
or individuals whoacted as co-conspirators
with defendant in the alleged offenses.
In an opening statement, anActivision Blizzard rep said,
Mr. Rodriguez, AKAoptic H three cz and Mr.
(02:59):
Abner AKA Skump demandedthat Activision pay them tens
of millions of dollars to avoidthis meritless litigation.
And when their demands were notmet, they filed the lawsuit.
We will strongly defend againstthese claims which have no
basis in fact or in law.
We are disappointed that these members
of the eSports communitywould bring this suit,
(03:20):
which is disruptive toteam owners, players, fans,
and partners who haveinvested so much time
and energy in the Call of Duties.
League success goes on from there.
Vaso got one here from PC Gamer,
which is probably gonnabe somewhat similar.
This one is titled Top Call
of Duty eSports Players Sue Activision
for $680 million in damagesalleging the publisher has an
(03:44):
unlawful monopoly onthe games eSports scene.
Some of this is probablygoing to overlap a little bit.
Members of the Call of DutyLeague have filed a federal
lawsuit against the league owner's,
Activision Blizzard League owner,
Activision Blizzard seeking$680 million in damages alleging
the company has an unlawfulmonopoly over professional
eSports leagues originallyreported by Bloomberg Law,
(04:06):
which I would've gone to,
but they tend to put itbehind a, like a paywall
or a give me your data whileso I don't do that one.
Uh, the lawsuit was filed by Hector hc,
H three CZ Rodriguez,leader of Call of Duty,
eSports Team Optic and SethSkp Abner, one of the call, one
of Call of Duty's best eSports players
in a Los Angeles federalcourt on Thursday.
(04:28):
The pair made the casethat prior to 2019 the call
of Duty eSports circuit includes leagues
and tournaments hosted
by multiple organizationsincluding GameStop
and Major League Gamingalongside Activision.
But in 2019, Activisiontook quote, concerted
and purposeful actions
and quote to control the call of duty
(04:48):
eSports scene in a manner
that occurred without thecollaboration of existing Call
of Duty eSports teams
and players describingthe nature of the action.
The lawsuit states quote,
this action arises fromActivision's unlawful 100% monopoly
over and agreementsunlawfully restraining trade
with respect to professional call
(05:08):
of duty leagues and tournaments.
As a result of its myriadanti-competitive actions,
Activision now holds anunlawful 100% monopoly over
that lucrative and oncevibrant market end quote.
It adds that Activision quote has used
that unlawful monopoly power
to prevent would be competitorsfrom entering the market
as well as to coerce themarkets of other participants
(05:31):
to acqui acquiesce toextortion in financial terms.
And it goes on from therefor a little bit, um,
but I'll give you a little more.
The lawsuit goes on to detailsevere restrictions allegedly
used by Activision Blizzardto prevent the Call
of Duty leak teams
and players from participating in events
outside of the league.
According to the lawsuit,Activision Blizzard called Teams,
(05:52):
uh, charged teams hefty feesfor competing in the CDL
with 12 teams receiving a bill
for $27.5 million a piece.
Moreover, teams that competed in the Call
of Duty league were allegedlyprevented from competing in
or supporting other tournaments
and were also unable to profitfrom playing Call of Duty
beyond the structures of the league.
(06:12):
And there's more. TheHollywood reporter says,
Activision hit with $100million lawsuit from pro gamers
over claims it monopolizedCall of Duty tournaments.
Um, here's some about that.
Activision Blizzard isfacing a lawsuit accusing it
of monopolizing the market for Call
of Duty leagues and tournaments.
And then it's um, mentionsthe same two guys, H three cz
(06:36):
and S Gump in a lawsuiton Thursday in California.
Federal court alleged
that the gaming giantviolates antitrust laws
by preventing would-be competitorsfrom entering the market
and coercing players
and team owners to acquito acqui acquiescing.
That's a word toextortionate financial terms.
They point to therestrictions on their ability
(06:57):
to earn compensation from sources
besides Activision through endorsements
or streaming, as well as mergers intended
to cement the company'salleged monopoly power.
In a statement, a spokespersonfor the company said,
the plaintiffs quote demandedthat Activision pay them tens
of millions of dollars to avoidthis meritless litigation.
And when their demands werenot meant met, they filed.
(07:19):
According to the complaint,the market for Call
of Duty leagues and tournamentswas competitive until 2019
with multiple entitiesincluding Activision, GameStop,
and Major League gaming hosting events.
They mostly had modestentry fees, which ensured
that the best players in teamswere able to participate.
The suit said, but thatyear the gamers say Activis,
(07:41):
which made the title,started to demand top players
and teams to agree toquote, rent seeking demands
and various trade restrainingcontractual provisions
that allegedly violate the Sherman Act
and antitrust law that among other things,
Barr's illegal restraints of trade.
Abner said he was forcedto sign a contract
during a photo shoot withoutadequate time to review.
(08:04):
Despite requesting counsel
and under threat
of being excluded fromthe Activision COD league.
Absent immediate acquiescenceto its terms, according
to the suit, teams mustpay a $27.5 million
entry fee to compete in tournaments,
give Activision half theirrevenue from ticket sales
(08:24):
and sponsorships
and seed to the gaminggiant, the exclusive right
to contract with the mostlucrative sponsors such
as Monster Beverage, mountainDew and USAA Insurance
and Broadcasters Activision'sLeague was modeled
after traditional sportsleagues like the National Base
Basketball Association, the suit says,
but unlike those leagues,
the company did not have acollective bargaining agreement
(08:46):
with players and team owners.
And it goes on from there.
It's about half an article still here,
well maybe more than half.
And if you'll wanna seethe lawsuit, it's uh,
Hollywood Reporter hasembedded the thing from
Scribd if you care to read it.
Adam Fletcher, who is Pezradar, posted a lovely photo
of himself and he wrote thison X today marks my fifth
anniversary at BlizzardEntertainment, AKA Sword.
(09:08):
Today the team did a wholesurprise reveal for me today.
I had no clue. I love theDiablo team best people.
There's a little heart after that
and now a new weapon joinsSolarian in my office.
So you could see him holdingup the, the silver sword
with like the blue colors on it.
And behind him is definitely solarian,
which is like a very gold, shiny sword.
(09:30):
So that's pretty cool.Overall, I love when
companies like really treattheir workers well like this.
Uh, also Adam Fletcher alsowrote Next week we will be
announcing a date andtime for a campfire chat
that will full, that willfully focus on showcasing the
gauntlet and our mid-season updates.
The mid-season update willbring lots of class updates
(09:51):
and will be in the sameupdate as the gauntlet.
So that's pretty cool. Sopeople are asking questions
of course, but they'll getit in the campfire chat.
Also, academy of Interactive Arts
and Sciences wrote thison X Congratulations
to hashtag Diablo fourfor winning online Game
of the year at the 27thAnnual Dice Awards.
(10:12):
And there's like a beautiful picture here
of Lilith, if you wanna call it.
Beautiful. And it's, itwon. So that's amazing.
I think there's probably a ton
of people playing this game still.
I haven't been at it ina bit 'cause I got sick,
but I'll go right back to it
when I feel a little bit better.
But I think that's coolthat Diablo four won this
like huge game award.
It's awesome. Then theDiablo account also said, uh,
about this play together, slay Together
(10:35):
and wrote thank you to official A IAS
for awarding Diablo four online game
of the year at the 2024 Dice Awards.
And now all of this will beposted in the show notes when
I'm done talking about it.
And you can check it out there.
The stuff on Twitter has likeimagery you can look at like,
you know, if you wanna seewhat the swords look like
that Adam Fletcher has that kind of thing,
(10:57):
but also the dice thingthat that happened there.
Xbox Game Pass says Guess who
and has a little pictureof a red flower sort
of tipping over and a flowerpedal on an unreadable book
that the priests use inthe beginning of the game.
I won't spoil that for you ifyou have not gotten there yet.
It's pretty easy in the gameif you go through the storyline
and it says Diablo fouris coming March 28th
(11:19):
to Xbox Game Pass and says Hail Lilith.
I think that's pretty cool.I've been playing Diablo four on
Xbox because it won'trun on a Mac, which is
what I use and I prefer.
This is a good idea. It'sa good way to get people
who are like, yeah, you know,maybe I wanna play that game,
but I'm not sure they could just play it
through the Xbox Game Passstarting on March 28th
(11:40):
and figure out if they like it
or not with really,probably without having
to pay for the game at first.
I'm not sure how that goesbecause I just, I paid
for the game, so I don't know.
But I think it's a goodidea, especially considering
that this game has like, you know,
gotten some awards recently.
It's a good idea. There'salso new cosmetics for all
of the classes and I've been sort of, kind
(12:00):
of playing a sorcerer, butI'm not enjoying it very much.
So I'm gonna switch to a barbarian
and wow head has this, uh,article titled New Barbarian
Cosmetics, the Bloody Hawk,and it's like feathery
and colorful and probably wouldintimidate other, uh, things
that the, this particularbarbarian in this photo in that,
uh, in that website is, uh, you know,
(12:23):
gonna be scary lookingwith all that.
So here's the writeup on this another day.
More new cosmetics.
These barbarianscertainly aren't chickens,
even if they are wearing thenew Bloody Hawk cosmetics.
While we don't know for certainwhen these packages will
rotate out of stock, what we do know is
that the shop refresheshappen daily at approximately
(12:43):
10:00 PM or 10:00 AM PDT.
So stay tuned. We may havenew cosmetic options soon.
And then there's justsome pictures in here
of the armor on a male barbarianand a female barbarian.
The armor looks pretty muchthe same for the most part,
it's very colorful, like you're gonna,
you're gonna see the barbarians
immediately if they're wearing this.
And there's a couple of weapons that
(13:04):
go along with this as well.
And then there's some specialmarkings you can put on your
barbarian, whether male orfemale, if you wanna do that.
I think that's kind ofcool. I'm hoping, I'm hoping
that this is one thatyou can just kind of get
and not have to like,you know, do a lot for.
But in addition from wow had,again, from a while back, um,
from, well, I guess a month ago, uh,
(13:26):
Diablo four platinumpre premium currency in
Diablo four, season three.
And it's like how youcan get this, you know,
but I think if it's, I'munderstanding this correctly,
like you can try to buy some things,
but you need a certain amount of platinum
and you can't really get that
from having it drop in the game.
So if these fancy Rooster costumes
(13:47):
or whatever they are issomething that's going
to be accessible, it's probablygonna cost you some money.
Wellhead has got a patch here
for 1.3 0.2 Uber uniquecrafting that allows players
to guarantee desired Uber uniques.
This is written by Jez Tross
and here's what was, uh,written by, uh, her on Wow Head.
(14:12):
A common complaint from playersin Diablo for has centered
around the elusiveexclusive Uber unique items.
These rare items such asHarlequin, Harlequin Crest,
and the grandfather are easily some
of the most powerful in the game
and the most desired for their building,
for their build completing properties.
The downside, however, is thatthey were nearly impossible
(14:34):
to find even after targetedfarming of them was introduced.
Now Blizzard has releasedthe patch 1.3 0.2
that will allow playersto guarantee a craft
of any Uber unique of their choosing.
Blizzard released patch notes today.
This was written on eight days ago.
I just kind of missed it, I guess.
Um, revealing Uber uniquecrafting providing a way
(14:55):
for players with bad luck
to gain the Uber uniquethey want for a price.
So here is a post from Blizzardembedded in this article.
Uber unique crafting developers note,
Uber unique items are highly sought
after with season of Blood.
We introduced targetfarming Uber unique items
with Uber Durio to giveplayers another source
of acquiring this type of item.
(15:16):
However, we want
to give players increasedautonomy in obtaining their
desired Uber unique by addressingfeedback that expressed
how acquiring, uh, duplicate
or undesired Uber unique items lessons
that feeling of triumph.
A new system empowers playersto make use of duplicate
and undesired uber uniqueitems by salvaging them
(15:39):
for a new resource which can be used
to eventually craft an Uberunique of their choosing.
Additionally, the chancefor Uber unique items
to drop everywhere,
but in Uber Durio encountershas been increased.
Uber unique items can now be salvaged
to provide a new resource re spend.
Resplendent Sparks players canbring five resplendent sparks
to the Alchemist and Transmute
(16:00):
and Uber unique of their choice.
The refined resources tab atthe Alchemist has been renamed
Transmute and the option
to craft an Uber unique itemcan be found under that tab.
Note that the preview window
for crafting an Uber uniquewon't display the items
apexes the drop chance of Uberunique items acquired outside
of Uber dural encountershave been increased.
(16:22):
These Uber uniques willstill be difficult to obtain
because crafting your chosenUber unique will require having
five other Uber uniques drop first.
This is certainly achallenge given their rarity
and will allow for a small bit
of bad luck protection withoutflooding the player base
with Uber uniques.
So there's that. And I'vegot one more thing in here.
(16:42):
Now I think the Howler huntin Diablo Immortal might still
be going on, but Diablo immortalon uh, X Twitter, whatever,
uh, is already announcing season 23.
So Diablo immortal season23 is called the consumed.
The outfits
that the character classes arewearing are very much in tune
with the like lunar New Year stuff
(17:04):
that we're seeing in Diablo four.
And they wrote this, liveyour Life within the MA
that will One day swallow You whole.
Our season 23 Battle Passthe consumed is available now
until March 14.
So they're kind of planning ahead with it.
And some people havedescribed their reactions
to this particular thing.
(17:26):
One of them says this seasononly the barbarian outfit
and weapon and the monkweapon are only good.
The rest are not good at all.
And then there's someonethat just posted a skin from
their, their character.
Some of these I can't read
and well, I couldprobably puzzle that out,
but I'm pretty sure it's Portuguese
and I'm not really good with that.
And then someone else is really mad about
(17:46):
the Necro Skins.
So, you know, you can't winon social media no matter
how big a company you are, I suppose.
I just really thinkthat's, that's something
that's gonna be happeningforever and ever.
Um, so this is kind of a shortershow in many ways, in part
because I've been sick lately.
I have a ton of allergies andthat provoked, uh, a lot of,
(18:07):
uh, downtime that was necessary.
So I'm not gonna pushmyself too hard today.
I'm hoping that this is enoughstuff to give you some ideas
of what's coming up in Diablofour as well as Diablo Mortal
and all the other shenanigans going on
with Activision Blizzard.
I am quite surprised that
after Microsoft obtainedActivision Blizzard
(18:29):
or whatever, um, thatthey, you know, that's part
of them now, ActivisionBlizzard King part of Microsoft.
And I figured that
because they're underMicrosoft now, that perhaps
the shenanigans thatwere going on that led up
to very many people that love Call of Duty
being angered about it.
And, you know, being told you can't,
(18:50):
you can't leave your league
or you can't, you know,play on other people's
leagues and all that kind of stuff.
I think it's possible that, um,
this is probably illegal in some way.
I mean, honestly, if you look at like,
I don't know, baseballor something, right?
And somebody doesn't wantto be on that team anymore
and has enough of courage or money
(19:11):
or something that makes them very,
very interested in playing ona different team altogether,
they can actually do that if they want to.
If they don't get, youknow, a return, come back
to our team again next season type thing,
they'll probably know thatbefore that season even starts.
But like with this eSports stuff,
it seems like it's alllocked down under Activision
(19:32):
and I honestly hoped
that Activision Blizzardwould be a better company to,
you know, the players andthe people it's got hired.
I know they laid off a ton of people, uh,
Activision Blizzard King,
and it might have beenMicrosoft's uh, coercion to that.
I don't know, maybe Microsoft
(19:52):
decided this was too many people.
That's how we lost theunannounced adventure game.
Um, that kind of thing. But I don't know.
I mean, I just feel likethe bigger the company,
the more problems it makes for itself.
You know what I mean? And that's
where I'm gonna end this episode.
You have been listening to episode 4, 4 6
of the Shattered Soul Stone.
Your Diablo Communitypodcast missed an episode.
(20:14):
You can find the show blog
and listen to the showarchives at Shattered Soul
www.shatteredsoulstone.com.
Do we need the www? I don'tknow. Come join us in game.
Our in game community and clan,
both named Shattered Soul Stone, are open
to anyone who would like to join.
You can also join us on theDiscord for the ultimate team
and community based experience,
find the Discord invitationlink on our Twitter at Shattered
(20:37):
stone, as well as theShattered Soul Stone website.
Thank you for listening.
- It is time for Shattered Soul Stone
featuring the latest newsfrom Sanctuary and beyond.
Each episode a heroic partyof Nephilim Band together
to help keep you informed on everything in
the Diablo universe.
(00:28):
And now your Diablo Community podcast
- Coming to you fromsomewhere in sanctuary.
This is episode 4 4 6of Shattered Soul Stone,
your Diablo Community podcast.
This episode is called Sword and Award.
It is February 17th,2024. And this is Jen.
(00:49):
I got a whole bunch of stuffto talk about in this one
and we'll just see how long this takes.
It's not gonna be an overly long show.
We do try to keep itdown about 30 minutes,
but we'll see how this goes.
First of all, I've got a few articles here
criticizing Activision Blizzard
and you'll hear that just uh,
in just a second in different ways.
'cause obviously every
article is gonna be a little different.
(01:09):
So this is from Variety
and it's titled Activision Blizzard, sued
by eSports Pros seeking at least
$680 million alleging monopoly over Call
of Duty leagues and tournaments.
The gaming company, which is now part
of Microsoft calls thelitigation meritless.
And there's a picture from a Call
(01:30):
of Duty game at the top of this article.
Two, professional eSportsplayers are demanding
that at least $680 million inaggregate monetary damages in
a lawsuit against Microsoft'sActivis Blizzard alleging the
game company holds and quoteunlawful 100% monopoly.
End quote over professionalleagues and tournaments.
(01:52):
For first person shooter Call of Duty,
Activision Blizzard has used its quote,
unlawful monopoly power
to prevent would-be competitorsfrom entering the market,
as well as to coerce themarket's other participants in
particular professionalcall of duty players
and team owners to acquiesce acquiesce
to extortionate financial terms.
(02:14):
The lawsuit said the two eSportplayers suing Activision are
Hector Rodriguez, known by his Call
of Duty handle H three cz,founder of the Optic Gaming Team
and Seth Abner known for hisgamer stamp Sculp, no Call
of Duty League teamsare named as plaintiffs.
And this lawsuit callsthe other teams in the CDL
(02:35):
Co-conspirators in perpetratingdivision's alleged monopoly
and says Plaintiffsreserve the right to name
as defendants some or all of the entities
or individuals whoacted as co-conspirators
with defendant in the alleged offenses.
In an opening statement, anActivision Blizzard rep said,
Mr. Rodriguez, AKAoptic H three cz and Mr.
(02:59):
Abner AKA Skump demandedthat Activision pay them tens
of millions of dollars to avoidthis meritless litigation.
And when their demands were notmet, they filed the lawsuit.
We will strongly defend againstthese claims which have no
basis in fact or in law.
We are disappointed that these members
of the eSports communitywould bring this suit,
(03:20):
which is disruptive toteam owners, players, fans,
and partners who haveinvested so much time
and energy in the Call of Duties.
League success goes on from there.
Vaso got one here from PC Gamer,
which is probably gonnabe somewhat similar.
This one is titled Top Call
of Duty eSports Players Sue Activision
for $680 million in damagesalleging the publisher has an
(03:44):
unlawful monopoly onthe games eSports scene.
Some of this is probablygoing to overlap a little bit.
Members of the Call of DutyLeague have filed a federal
lawsuit against the league owner's,
Activision Blizzard League owner,
Activision Blizzard seeking$680 million in damages alleging
the company has an unlawfulmonopoly over professional
eSports leagues originallyreported by Bloomberg Law,
(04:06):
which I would've gone to,
but they tend to put itbehind a, like a paywall
or a give me your data whileso I don't do that one.
Uh, the lawsuit was filed by Hector hc,
H three CZ Rodriguez,leader of Call of Duty,
eSports Team Optic and SethSkp Abner, one of the call, one
of Call of Duty's best eSports players
in a Los Angeles federalcourt on Thursday.
(04:28):
The pair made the casethat prior to 2019 the call
of Duty eSports circuit includes leagues
and tournaments hosted
by multiple organizationsincluding GameStop
and Major League Gamingalongside Activision.
But in 2019, Activisiontook quote, concerted
and purposeful actions
and quote to control the call of duty
(04:48):
eSports scene in a manner
that occurred without thecollaboration of existing Call
of Duty eSports teams
and players describingthe nature of the action.
The lawsuit states quote,
this action arises fromActivision's unlawful 100% monopoly
over and agreementsunlawfully restraining trade
with respect to professional call
(05:08):
of duty leagues and tournaments.
As a result of its myriadanti-competitive actions,
Activision now holds anunlawful 100% monopoly over
that lucrative and oncevibrant market end quote.
It adds that Activision quote has used
that unlawful monopoly power
to prevent would be competitorsfrom entering the market
as well as to coerce themarkets of other participants
(05:31):
to acqui acquiesce toextortion in financial terms.
And it goes on from therefor a little bit, um,
but I'll give you a little more.
The lawsuit goes on to detailsevere restrictions allegedly
used by Activision Blizzardto prevent the Call
of Duty leak teams
and players from participating in events
outside of the league.
According to the lawsuit,Activision Blizzard called Teams,
(05:52):
uh, charged teams hefty feesfor competing in the CDL
with 12 teams receiving a bill
for $27.5 million a piece.
Moreover, teams that competed in the Call
of Duty league were allegedlyprevented from competing in
or supporting other tournaments
and were also unable to profitfrom playing Call of Duty
beyond the structures of the league.
(06:12):
And there's more. TheHollywood reporter says,
Activision hit with $100million lawsuit from pro gamers
over claims it monopolizedCall of Duty tournaments.
Um, here's some about that.
Activision Blizzard isfacing a lawsuit accusing it
of monopolizing the market for Call
of Duty leagues and tournaments.
And then it's um, mentionsthe same two guys, H three cz
(06:36):
and S Gump in a lawsuiton Thursday in California.
Federal court alleged
that the gaming giantviolates antitrust laws
by preventing would-be competitorsfrom entering the market
and coercing players
and team owners to acquito acqui acquiescing.
That's a word toextortionate financial terms.
They point to therestrictions on their ability
(06:57):
to earn compensation from sources
besides Activision through endorsements
or streaming, as well as mergers intended
to cement the company'salleged monopoly power.
In a statement, a spokespersonfor the company said,
the plaintiffs quote demandedthat Activision pay them tens
of millions of dollars to avoidthis meritless litigation.
And when their demands werenot meant met, they filed.
(07:19):
According to the complaint,the market for Call
of Duty leagues and tournamentswas competitive until 2019
with multiple entitiesincluding Activision, GameStop,
and Major League gaming hosting events.
They mostly had modestentry fees, which ensured
that the best players in teamswere able to participate.
The suit said, but thatyear the gamers say Activis,
(07:41):
which made the title,started to demand top players
and teams to agree toquote, rent seeking demands
and various trade restrainingcontractual provisions
that allegedly violate the Sherman Act
and antitrust law that among other things,
Barr's illegal restraints of trade.
Abner said he was forcedto sign a contract
during a photo shoot withoutadequate time to review.
(08:04):
Despite requesting counsel
and under threat
of being excluded fromthe Activision COD league.
Absent immediate acquiescenceto its terms, according
to the suit, teams mustpay a $27.5 million
entry fee to compete in tournaments,
give Activision half theirrevenue from ticket sales
(08:24):
and sponsorships
and seed to the gaminggiant, the exclusive right
to contract with the mostlucrative sponsors such
as Monster Beverage, mountainDew and USAA Insurance
and Broadcasters Activision'sLeague was modeled
after traditional sportsleagues like the National Base
Basketball Association, the suit says,
but unlike those leagues,
the company did not have acollective bargaining agreement
(08:46):
with players and team owners.
And it goes on from there.
It's about half an article still here,
well maybe more than half.
And if you'll wanna seethe lawsuit, it's uh,
Hollywood Reporter hasembedded the thing from
Scribd if you care to read it.
Adam Fletcher, who is Pezradar, posted a lovely photo
of himself and he wrote thison X today marks my fifth
anniversary at BlizzardEntertainment, AKA Sword.
(09:08):
Today the team did a wholesurprise reveal for me today.
I had no clue. I love theDiablo team best people.
There's a little heart after that
and now a new weapon joinsSolarian in my office.
So you could see him holdingup the, the silver sword
with like the blue colors on it.
And behind him is definitely solarian,
which is like a very gold, shiny sword.
(09:30):
So that's pretty cool.Overall, I love when
companies like really treattheir workers well like this.
Uh, also Adam Fletcher alsowrote Next week we will be
announcing a date andtime for a campfire chat
that will full, that willfully focus on showcasing the
gauntlet and our mid-season updates.
The mid-season update willbring lots of class updates
(09:51):
and will be in the sameupdate as the gauntlet.
So that's pretty cool. Sopeople are asking questions
of course, but they'll getit in the campfire chat.
Also, academy of Interactive Arts
and Sciences wrote thison X Congratulations
to hashtag Diablo fourfor winning online Game
of the year at the 27thAnnual Dice Awards.
(10:12):
And there's like a beautiful picture here
of Lilith, if you wanna call it.
Beautiful. And it's, itwon. So that's amazing.
I think there's probably a ton
of people playing this game still.
I haven't been at it ina bit 'cause I got sick,
but I'll go right back to it
when I feel a little bit better.
But I think that's coolthat Diablo four won this
like huge game award.
It's awesome. Then theDiablo account also said, uh,
about this play together, slay Together
(10:35):
and wrote thank you to official A IAS
for awarding Diablo four online game
of the year at the 2024 Dice Awards.
And now all of this will beposted in the show notes when
I'm done talking about it.
And you can check it out there.
The stuff on Twitter has likeimagery you can look at like,
you know, if you wanna seewhat the swords look like
that Adam Fletcher has that kind of thing,
(10:57):
but also the dice thingthat that happened there.
Xbox Game Pass says Guess who
and has a little pictureof a red flower sort
of tipping over and a flowerpedal on an unreadable book
that the priests use inthe beginning of the game.
I won't spoil that for you ifyou have not gotten there yet.
It's pretty easy in the gameif you go through the storyline
and it says Diablo fouris coming March 28th
(11:19):
to Xbox Game Pass and says Hail Lilith.
I think that's pretty cool.I've been playing Diablo four on
Xbox because it won'trun on a Mac, which is
what I use and I prefer.
This is a good idea. It'sa good way to get people
who are like, yeah, you know,maybe I wanna play that game,
but I'm not sure they could just play it
through the Xbox Game Passstarting on March 28th
(11:40):
and figure out if they like it
or not with really,probably without having
to pay for the game at first.
I'm not sure how that goesbecause I just, I paid
for the game, so I don't know.
But I think it's a goodidea, especially considering
that this game has like, you know,
gotten some awards recently.
It's a good idea. There'salso new cosmetics for all
of the classes and I've been sort of, kind
(12:00):
of playing a sorcerer, butI'm not enjoying it very much.
So I'm gonna switch to a barbarian
and wow head has this, uh,article titled New Barbarian
Cosmetics, the Bloody Hawk,and it's like feathery
and colorful and probably wouldintimidate other, uh, things
that the, this particularbarbarian in this photo in that,
uh, in that website is, uh, you know,
(12:23):
gonna be scary lookingwith all that
So here's the writeup on this another day.
More new cosmetics.
These barbarianscertainly aren't chickens,
even if they are wearing thenew Bloody Hawk cosmetics.
While we don't know for certainwhen these packages will
rotate out of stock, what we do know is
that the shop refresheshappen daily at approximately
(12:43):
10:00 PM or 10:00 AM PDT.
So stay tuned. We may havenew cosmetic options soon.
And then there's justsome pictures in here
of the armor on a male barbarianand a female barbarian.
The armor looks pretty muchthe same for the most part,
it's very colorful, like you're gonna,
you're gonna see the barbarians
immediately if they're wearing this.
And there's a couple of weapons that
(13:04):
go along with this as well.
And then there's some specialmarkings you can put on your
barbarian, whether male orfemale, if you wanna do that.
I think that's kind ofcool. I'm hoping, I'm hoping
that this is one thatyou can just kind of get
and not have to like,you know, do a lot for.
But in addition from wow had,again, from a while back, um,
from, well, I guess a month ago, uh,
(13:26):
Diablo four platinumpre premium currency in
Diablo four, season three.
And it's like how youcan get this, you know,
but I think if it's, I'munderstanding this correctly,
like you can try to buy some things,
but you need a certain amount of platinum
and you can't really get that
from having it drop in the game.
So if these fancy Rooster costumes
(13:47):
or whatever they are issomething that's going
to be accessible, it's probablygonna cost you some money.
Wellhead has got a patch here
for 1.3 0.2 Uber uniquecrafting that allows players
to guarantee desired Uber uniques.
This is written by Jez Tross
and here's what was, uh,written by, uh, her on Wow Head.
(14:12):
A common complaint from playersin Diablo for has centered
around the elusiveexclusive Uber unique items.
These rare items such asHarlequin, Harlequin Crest,
and the grandfather are easily some
of the most powerful in the game
and the most desired for their building,
for their build completing properties.
The downside, however, is thatthey were nearly impossible
(14:34):
to find even after targetedfarming of them was introduced.
Now Blizzard has releasedthe patch 1.3 0.2
that will allow playersto guarantee a craft
of any Uber unique of their choosing.
Blizzard released patch notes today.
This was written on eight days ago.
I just kind of missed it, I guess.
Um, revealing Uber uniquecrafting providing a way
(14:55):
for players with bad luck
to gain the Uber uniquethey want for a price.
So here is a post from Blizzardembedded in this article.
Uber unique crafting developers note,
Uber unique items are highly sought
after with season of Blood.
We introduced targetfarming Uber unique items
with Uber Durio to giveplayers another source
of acquiring this type of item.
(15:16):
However, we want
to give players increasedautonomy in obtaining their
desired Uber unique by addressingfeedback that expressed
how acquiring, uh, duplicate
or undesired Uber unique items lessons
that feeling of triumph.
A new system empowers playersto make use of duplicate
and undesired uber uniqueitems by salvaging them
(15:39):
for a new resource which can be used
to eventually craft an Uberunique of their choosing.
Additionally, the chancefor Uber unique items
to drop everywhere,
but in Uber Durio encountershas been increased.
Uber unique items can now be salvaged
to provide a new resource re spend.
Resplendent Sparks players canbring five resplendent sparks
to the Alchemist and Transmute
(16:00):
and Uber unique of their choice.
The refined resources tab atthe Alchemist has been renamed
Transmute and the option
to craft an Uber unique itemcan be found under that tab.
Note that the preview window
for crafting an Uber uniquewon't display the items
apexes the drop chance of Uberunique items acquired outside
of Uber dural encountershave been increased.
(16:22):
These Uber uniques willstill be difficult to obtain
because crafting your chosenUber unique will require having
five other Uber uniques drop first.
This is certainly achallenge given their rarity
and will allow for a small bit
of bad luck protection withoutflooding the player base
with Uber uniques.
So there's that. And I'vegot one more thing in here.
(16:42):
Now I think the Howler huntin Diablo Immortal might still
be going on, but Diablo immortalon uh, X Twitter, whatever,
uh, is already announcing season 23.
So Diablo immortal season23 is called the consumed.
The outfits
that the character classes arewearing are very much in tune
with the like lunar New Year stuff
(17:04):
that we're seeing in Diablo four.
And they wrote this, liveyour Life within the MA
that will One day swallow You whole.
Our season 23 Battle Passthe consumed is available now
until March 14.
So they're kind of planning ahead with it.
And some people havedescribed their reactions
to this particular thing.
(17:26):
One of them says this seasononly the barbarian outfit
and weapon and the monkweapon are only good.
The rest are not good at all.
And then there's someonethat just posted a skin from
their, their character.
Some of these I can't read
and well, I couldprobably puzzle that out,
but I'm pretty sure it's Portuguese
and I'm not really good with that.
And then someone else is really mad about
(17:46):
the Necro Skins
So, you know, you can't winon social media no matter
how big a company you are, I suppose.
I just really thinkthat's, that's something
that's gonna be happeningforever and ever.
Um, so this is kind of a shortershow in many ways, in part
because I've been sick lately.
I have a ton of allergies andthat provoked, uh, a lot of,
(18:07):
uh, downtime that was necessary.
So I'm not gonna pushmyself too hard today.
I'm hoping that this is enoughstuff to give you some ideas
of what's coming up in Diablofour as well as Diablo Mortal
and all the other shenanigans going on
with Activision Blizzard.
I am quite surprised that
after Microsoft obtainedActivision Blizzard
(18:29):
or whatever, um, thatthey, you know, that's part
of them now, ActivisionBlizzard King part of Microsoft.
And I figured that
because they're underMicrosoft now, that perhaps
the shenanigans thatwere going on that led up
to very many people that love Call of Duty
being angered about it.
And, you know, being told you can't,
(18:50):
you can't leave your league
or you can't, you know,play on other people's
leagues and all that kind of stuff.
I think it's possible that, um,
this is probably illegal in some way.
I mean, honestly, if you look at like,
I don't know, baseballor something, right?
And somebody doesn't wantto be on that team anymore
and has enough of courage or money
(19:11):
or something that makes them very,
very interested in playing ona different team altogether,
they can actually do that if they want to.
If they don't get, youknow, a return, come back
to our team again next season type thing,
they'll probably know thatbefore that season even starts.
But like with this eSports stuff,
it seems like it's alllocked down under Activision
(19:32):
and I honestly hoped
that Activision Blizzardwould be a better company to,
you know, the players andthe people it's got hired.
I know they laid off a ton of people, uh,
Activision Blizzard King,
and it might have beenMicrosoft's uh, coercion to that.
I don't know, maybe Microsoft
(19:52):
decided this was too many people.
That's how we lost theunannounced adventure game.
Um, that kind of thing. But I don't know.
I mean, I just feel likethe bigger the company,
the more problems it makes for itself.
You know what I mean? And that's
where I'm gonna end this episode.
You have been listening to episode 4, 4 6
of the Shattered Soul Stone.
Your Diablo Communitypodcast missed an episode.
(20:14):
You can find the show blog
and listen to the showarchives at Shattered Soul
www.shatteredsoulstone.com.
Do we need the www? I don'tknow. Come join us in game.
Our in game community and clan,
both named Shattered Soul Stone, are open
to anyone who would like to join.
You can also join us on theDiscord for the ultimate team
and community based experience,
find the Discord invitationlink on our Twitter at Shattered
(20:37):
stone, as well as theShattered Soul Stone website.
Thank you for listening.
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