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Blizzard Sued Over Battle.net Authentication

Posted by Soulskill on from the did-you-try-googling-your-problem-first dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A man has initiated a class-action suit against Blizzard over a product used to shore up Battle.net security. Benjamin Bell alleges that Blizzard's sale of Authenticators — devices that enable basic two-tier authentication — represents deceptive and unfair additional costs to their basic games. (Blizzard sells the key fob versions for $6.50, and provides a free mobile app as an alternative. Neither are mandatory.) The complaint accuses Blizzard of making $26 million in Authenticator sales. In response, Blizzard made a statement refuting some of the complaint's claims and voicing their intention to 'vigorously defend' themselves."

9 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. This is ridiculous by synthparadox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not only does the $6.50 help cover postage and pay for the dongle, its completely optional and Blizzard makes the app available to as many platforms as they can. You can even install the authenticator on a Android simulator on a computer.

    I'm in shock as to how entitled this person is. I honestly just can't fathom how he can claim that Blizzard "makes money" off these authenticators.

    1. Re:This is ridiculous by synthparadox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right, because the keyfobs and shipping are free to Blizzard.
      How does this guy know that Blizz made $26 mil from them? Does he have access to the sales reports? Remember, "the complaint accuses Blizzard of making $26 million in Authenticator sales." Accusing someone of making money and them -actually- making that much money is two completely different things.

    2. Re:This is ridiculous by synthparadox · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you really want to be correct, income can be either net or gross. Gross income is revenue. Net income is profit. Because he didn't state what kind of income, he's technically still correct. </pedantic>

    3. Re:This is ridiculous by mat.power · · Score: 5, Funny

      He's technically correct, the best kind of correct!

    4. Re:This is ridiculous by yndrd1984 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the principle of making the customer pay for this after the fact. If the game requires authenticators to use its features, it should come in the box.

      I'm billing Ford for my gas, oil changes, and regular maintainance. I'm also suing because the advertisements showed an attractive woman in the car, and mine didn't come with one - I had to buy one separately from some "RussianBride" company. What a rip-off!

  2. Authenticator is not a Blizzard product... by Kenja · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is made by Vasco and is sold in large quantity orders for around 6.50$, which is the same as what Blizzard charges for it. The idiot in question is basicly claiming Blizzard sold 400,000 Authenticators at a 100% profit margin.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  3. Re:Going nowhere... by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    not necessarily, he can always say that it wasn't well indicated on the box or website when he bought the game. So this can be applied under "false advertisement" since it doesn't tell him that he must pay additional money.

    But he doesn't have to buy it -- he can pick a secure password and protect it (and protect his computer against keyloggers and other malware). When I buy a car the dealer doesn't tell me that I have to buy a car alarm with it at extra cost. Because I don't. It might be prudent, depending on where I park the car, but it's not necessary.

  4. Re:Going nowhere... by LordLimecat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have to sign into battle.net to order one, which indicates right away that you do not need one to sign into battle.net. That someone could be confused by this is absurd.

  5. Re:Surprised? by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Informative

    No they aren't I just checked my copy of Diablo 3 (which was a total waste of money) and my password worked regardless of what I capitalized.