World of Warcraft Class Action Lawsuit Filed over Automatic Renewals

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Blizzard Entertainment Inc., one of the most popular gaming companies in the world, has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the company misled and deceived customers by automatically renewing their World of Warcraft subscriptions without proper notice or consent.

Plaintiff Abel Abrego, a gamer and resident of San Diego, filed the World of Warcraft class action lawsuit on Feb. 5, claiming that back in 2013 he opened a World of Warcraft account on Blizzard’s website and purchased a WoW subscription. Several months later, the plaintiff became aware that his World of Warcraft subscription had been automatically renewed and that Blizzard had allegedly charged Abrego’s credit card automatically for the WoW subscription.

According to the World of Warcraft automatic renewal class action lawsuit, Abrego alleges that when he purchased the WoW subscription, Blizzard:

“failed to present Defendant’s automatic renewal offer terms or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner, as defined by California’s Automatic Purchase Renewal Statute, before the subscription or purchasing agreement was fulfilled, and in visual or temporal proximity to Defendant’s request for consent to the offer.”

Abrego further claims that Blizzard charged his credit card without obtaining his consent for automatic renewal of the World of Warcraft game.

In his World of Warcraft  class action lawsuit, Abrego seeks to represent himself and other gamers in similar situations. Potential Class Members would include, “All persons within California who purchased a subscription from Defendant’s website as part of an automatic renewal plan or continuous service offer for products and services from Defendant within the four years prior to the filing of this Complaint.”

Abrego and his legal counsel believs that the proposed automatic renewal Class could potentially include hundreds if not thousands of gamers in the state of California, meaning the certification of the World of Warcraft Class would assist in expediting the course of this litigation.

Additionally, the plaintiff brings several legal claims against Blizzard, including allegations that Blizzard violated California’s Business Code, one count of specifically violating the automatic renewal statute included in the state’s business code, as well as alleged violations of California’s unfair competition laws.

In terms of relief, the World of Warcraft class action lawsuit states Abrego is seeking the certification of the WoW class action and Class, summary judgments against Blizzard for the alleged business and competition law violations, injunctive relief and restitution for Abrego and the Class of gamers, general damages, disgorgement of profits, and payment of plaintiff’s attorneys’ and court fees.

The World of Warcraft Automatic Renewal Class Action Lawsuit is Abrego v. Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Case No. 15CV0230 DMS JLB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.