Court May Compel Sony to Disclose Exclusive Game Payments
As part of its ongoing battle to keep Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard.
Last year, Microsoft made an unprecedented move to acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion USD — despite its recent rocky history surrounding workplace misconduct allegations that led to an SEC investigation, the cancellation of BlizzCon 2021 and indefinite delays of Diablo IV and Overwatch 2. However, antitrust law came to the forefront as the deal would be put on hold as it entered court cases involving various sources as parties such as rival company Sony fight to prevent the acquisition.
Now, Kotaku has spotted that Sony may have to divulge valuable information regarding its exclusivity deals in order to illustrate the value of having such control. Whether it be payments for securing PlayStation exclusives or deals preventing games from being available on the Xbox Game Pass, data regarding arrangements taking place after January 1, 2019 would be made available to Microsoft.
The future of gaming is at stake and — for better or worse — both Sony and Microsoft continue to work towards a resolution that now points in favor of approving the deal as previous settlements, including a commitment from Microsoft to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo for at least 10 years, have been put in place.
Stay tuned for more information and in other gaming news, Counter-Strike 2 is rumored to be launching its beta test period within the next month.
