Last week, Microsoft announced the company has signed a 10-year deal for Call of Duty with Nintendo if regulators approve Microsoft’s $69 billion all-cash acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Under the binding agreement, Nintendo players will get new Call of Duty games the same day Xbox players get them, bringing the franchise to 150 million new devices. Microsoft originally tried to sign a 10-year deal with Sony, but Sony rejected their offer as “inadequate on many levels,” according to GamesIndustry.biz.
Microsoft – NVIDIA deal
In addition, Microsoft and NVIDIA have signed a 10-year agreement that will bring Xbox PC games to NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. The service boasts more than 25 million members in more than 100 countries. The game includes Call of Duty and Minecraft.
“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in a February 21, 2023 news release. “This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love.”
Jeff Fisher, senior vice president for GeForce at NVIDIA, also commented on the new partnership.
“Combining the incredibly rich catalog of Xbox first-party games with GeForce NOW’s high-performance streaming capabilities will propel cloud gaming into a mainstream offering that appeals to gamers at all levels of interest and experience,” said Fisher. “Through this partnership, more of the world’s most popular titles will now be available from the cloud with just a click, playable by millions more gamers.”
Copyright © 2023 Authority Media Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Will regulators be satisfied?
Microsoft hopes this partnership will be viewed favorably by regulators. In December, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint trying to block the acquisition. Earlier this month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority also opposed the acquisition, but in a letter to Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, the CMA explained how their concerns could potentially be resolved.
“The partnership delivers increased choice to gamers and resolves NVIDIA’s concerns with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. NVIDIA, therefore, is offering its full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition,” Microsoft said.
After the announcement, there was some confusion which Microsoft president Brad Smith clarified on Twitter.
Xbox Game Pass subscriptions
Xbox offers several different automatically-renewal subscription plans, each with different prices, features and perks.
- Ultimate: $14.99 a month after one-month trial @ $1.00 (console, PC and cloud), includes Xbox Live Gold, a $9.99/month value
- PC: $9.99 a month after one-month trial @ $1.00 (PC)
- Console: $9.99 a month
Copyright © 2023 Authority Media Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Insider Take
Will these deals be enough for Microsoft to secure regulatory approval? The FTC seems pretty steadfast in their position, but will their complaint withstand legal scrutiny given the change in circumstances?
In the FTC’s complaint, the regulatory agency said, “With control of Activision’s content, Microsoft would have the ability and increased incentive to withhold or degrade Activision’s content in ways that substantially lessen competition—including competition on product quality, price, and innovation. This loss of competition would likely result in significant harm to consumers in multiple markets at a pivotal time for the industry.”
The CMA seems willing to bargain and discuss what it would take to address their concerns about unfair competition. It will be interesting to watch this play out to see if Microsoft can seal the deal.
