In the latest chapter in the saga of Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard, Sony is ordered to reveal numerous trade secrets to its gaming rival.
An order that comes directly FTC but was observed Game Rant, acknowledges Microsoft’s challenge to obtain information from Sony. This is despite the fact that Sony has repeatedly resisted disclosing the information.
With this ruling, Sony is now required to provide Microsoft with information on exclusivity agreements as well as four years of various corporate records dating back to January 1, 2019. Microsoft believes this information will help determine why the acquisition should be allowed to proceed.
Sony suffers conquests to fight Microsoft
Despite the overall success of the challenge, Microsoft doesn’t get everything asked. Several of the claims Sony asked to be dismissed either were or the judgment was limited. For example, Microsoft initially wanted all copies of content license agreements dating back to January 1, 2012. Sony’s defense was that manually going through more than 150,000 agreements would be excessive, a claim the FTC partially accepted.
For the past year, Sony has been the biggest detractor of the proposed acquisition. Sony claims the $69 billion purchase violates competition rules and will harm the gaming industry as a whole. Since the battle began, Microsoft has sought to prove why it should be allowed to buy Activision Blizzard. The Redmond, WA-based company even made deals with companies such as Nintendo and Nvidia to bring Activision Blizzard games to Nintendo Switch and GeForce Now.
In addition to Microsoft’s successful challenge against Sony a recent report claims that the aforementioned agreements with Nvidia and Nintendo are “likely to resolve EU antitrust concerns”.
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