Many of you have probably been following Xbox's ongoing Activision Blizzard negotiations, with Microsoft still trying to secure regulatory approval for its mammoth deal. As was perhaps expected, Sony has become one of Microsoft's biggest obstacles for the deal going ahead, and it looks like the PlayStation owner will soon have to start showing more evidence to back up some of its arguments.
Late last month, Microsoft issued a subpoena to Sony - an order for the Japanese company to provide documents relating to the deal for an FTC court hearing. That FTC court hearing goes ahead this August (although a similar EU showdown just happened), but thanks to a new judge order we know a bit more about what Sony will have to explain ahead of a final decision.
Of six distinct requests Sony made to limit information provided to Microsoft and the FTC, four have been denied and two have been granted. So, basically, Sony will need to fully explain four requests it wanted to restrict information on, but two requests won't have to be fully detailed by the PlayStation owner. Got that? We think we do... just about, anyway.
Some of these six requests aren't particularly relevant to us as onlookers and relate more to the hearing itself, but a few of them are pretty interesting. Sony has managed to wriggle its way out of providing "“performance reviews or evaluations" for its CEO Jim Ryan, while the PlayStation owner has also managed to limit Microsoft's access to information on existing third-party deals - like those with Activision over the Call of Duty franchise.