FTC Seeking More Information On Microsoft’s Future ZeniMax Exclusivity And 10-Year Deals

The FTC has filed a new court doc­u­ment, one claim­ing that Microsoft has not pro­duced the infor­ma­tion it has request­ed, includ­ing doc­u­ments cov­er­ing future Zen­i­Max exclu­siv­i­ty and details about Microsoft­’s 10-year deals offered to Nin­ten­do and Nvidia.

This new court fil­ing is a request from the FTC to the judge over­see­ing the case, ask­ing them to force Microsoft to pro­duce the request­ed doc­u­ments. The com­plaint states that Microsoft has been selec­tive in what doc­u­ments it has pro­duced and has­n’t pro­vid­ed any infor­ma­tion regard­ing its “next gen­er­a­tion gam­ing ecosys­tem,” as well as its plans for future Zen­i­Max exclu­siv­i­ties. The fil­ing also argues that Microsoft went back on its promise relat­ed to Zen­i­Max titles being exclu­sive, say­ing the same could hap­pen with Activi­sion Bliz­zard titles.

The FTC also says Microsoft needs to pro­duce doc­u­ments with details on its 10-year deal with Nin­ten­do and Nvidia. It also wants all com­mu­ni­ca­tions relat­ed to Microsoft­’s attempts at mak­ing these deals with oth­er plat­forms, like its attempts with Sony and any pos­si­ble unknown third-par­ty com­pa­nies. The FTC argues that Microsoft should­n’t be able to use these deals as part their argu­ment if the com­pa­ny won’t pro­vide its inter­nal doc­u­ments regard­ing the deals. 

If the judge side withe the FTC’s request, Microsoft will be forced to pro­vide the request­ed documents.