Google Renews Call to Seal Stadia Information in FTC’s Findings of Fact

Google, a nonparty to the FTC’s lawsuit to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy on antitrust grounds, renews its request to seal a portion of one sentence in the FTC’s final proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, said its statement in support Thursday (docket 3:23-cv-02880) in U.S. District Court for San Francisco. The section of Google’s declaration in the FTC document that Google wants sealed “contains commercially sensitive details regarding Google’s financial investment in its Stadia business which, if disclosed, could reveal Google’s forward-looking business strategies,” said the statement. Stadia, Google's cloud gaming service, was launched in November 2019 and shut down in September. “Legitimate confidentiality and competitive interests warrant the sealing of this highly confidential information, the disclosure of which would cause injury to Google that could not be avoided through any less restrictive alternative to sealing,” it said. “Any public interest in disclosing the redacted information is outweighed by the prejudice that will result to Google,” it said.