Lunch Lecture on eSports Salary Caps

On 19 April 2023, Fabian Ziermann held an SKW Schwarz Lunch Lecture on the United States Department of Justice’s settlement with Activision Blizzard concerning eSports salary caps. The Department of Justice found a ‘Competitive Balance Tax’ that limited eSports teams’ total spending on player salaries to constitute a restraint of trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Fabian outlined the wider implications of this finding for European eSports operations, including competition law compliance as a regulatory mechanism for eSports. The recoding can be accessed here.