Microsoft finalizes 10-year deal for CoD franchise on Nintendo devices

Published on:

With rising concerns about the Activision games turning into Xbox exclusives, Microsoft announced finalisation of the 10-year contract with Nintendo to bring future Call of Duty titles to Nintendo platforms.

The announcement was made by Microsoft president Brad Smith, who said, “We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms,” in his tweet.

The announcement to provide the deal was done earlier in 2022 when Sony argued that the Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will disrupt the gaming industry and the company will make the Activision games exclusive to their own platform.

Microsoft offered both Sony and Nintendo the offer for 10-year contract to the Call of Duty franchise as a way to prove that the company wants everyone to have easy access to games. While Sony refused the offer and have been very vocal in opposing the acquisition, Nintendo gladly accepted the deal.

The company is already facing a probe from UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and a lawsuit from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the Activision Blizzard deal.

The CMA recently concluded in the preliminary investigation that Microsoft’s Xbox cloud service may very well be the reason for closure of some other cloud gaming service, like the recent shut-down of Google Stadia in January, as reported by IGN India.

Further investigation by CMA revealed that half of the rivals that were in a meeting believed that the deal will hurt competition. The meeting consisted of Six big rivals, of which three were against the deal, while one believed that it’s too soon to conclude. The other two did not have any issues with the merger.

The FTC lawsuit has also delayed the deal between the companies with a scheduling order, as the hearing only begins starting August this year. Despite that, president of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick still believes that the deal will be completed by June 2023.

Related