Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has called for another extension on the subpoena issued by Microsoft on January 26, 2023. Microsoft claimed that SIE had information that could help their case against The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit against the Activision Deal.
The subpoena’s original date was from January 17, 2023, to January 20, 2023. SIE requested an extension, which was set to end today, January 27, 2023. However, due to ongoing negotiations with Microsoft, SIE found it necessary to ask for another extension to move, limit, quash, or respond to the subpoena. According to the documents, the extension was needed so Sony and Microsoft could “…continue to negotiate and thereby eliminate or narrow issues that need to be presented to the Court for resolution.” The subpoena is now extended to February 1, 2023.
Microsoft is to appear before the court on April 7, 2023, following a complete fact discovery to present all favoring information in their case. Sony stated that the second extension would not delay the upcoming proceedings.
The Activision Blizzard deal has remained a constant topic since its announcement in January 2022. Since then, the acquisition has garnered a wide range of pushback from government regulators and industry competitors, fearing that the deal would negatively impact competition within the gaming industry.
Microsoft continues to remain confident in the deal’s success. Recently, in an interview with IGN, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer gave his thoughts on the current state of the acquisition from a year ago. It was mostly positive.
“…The fact that I have more insight, more knowledge about what it means to work with the different regulatory boards, I’m more confident now than I was a year ago,” said Spencer. “Simply based on the information I have and the discussions that we’ve been having…We’re actively working with the regulatory boards around the world that need to approve for this, and it’s been a learning experience for me. A lot of time spent, a lot of travel, a lot of conversations, but they’re conversations where I get to talk about our industry and the work that we do and why we do it. I think the more regulators are informed about what gaming is, how the business runs, who the players are, and what our aspiration is as Team Xbox is just a good thing for the industry itself.”
The Activision Blizzard deal needs 16 countries to be approved. Currently, only Brazil, Serbia, Saudi Arabia and Chile have approved of the deal.