Microsoft Seals Deals With Nintendo and NVIDIA, Hopes U.S. Government Notices
In the latest development in the controversial Activision Blizzard sale, Microsoft makes a move to appease the FTC and CMA.
Microsoft has been working with the US’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC), UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), and the European Union Commission (EUC) to get its Activision Blizzard sale to go through. It’s been an uphill battle thanks to revelations about Game Pass and other companies expressing concerns about the acquisition. Microsoft figured it would be safer to address the EU and UK issues before going head-to-head with the FTC.
The EU and CMA sent Microsoft their official findings and concerns earlier in the month, though the EU didn’t fully release its concerns to the public. The main worry about the merger revolves around the impact this change in competition would have on the pricing of games and consoles. The UK’s findings were released to the public and were very much against the sale. The organization came to the conclusion that the sale would give unfair advantages in many gaming markets and wanted them to outright sell off pieces of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft took these concerns to heart and has finally made its moves to address the concerns. Some of the moves are workig out better than others.
via Activision Blizzard
Nintendo
Microsoft made headlines when it proposed a 10-year deal with both Nintendo and Sony last year. It’s a sign of good faith that Microsoft has announced it will release Call of Duty games on the two platforms. This is a move that, if accepted, will curtail some of the main issues the Call of Duty series has caused with regard to the FTC and CMA. But Sony rejected the deal outright and the series has been a part of the sale proceedings since then. Nintendo accepted the 10-year Call of Duty deal when it was offered last year.
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. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
The announcement is a good move on Microsoft’s part. The gesture shows that it’s willing to work with other companies to ensure Call of Duty is not an Xbox exclusive. This is great news for Switch owners–they could possibly get ports of already existing Call of Duty titles. The last game released on a Nintendo platform was Call of Duty: Ghosts on the Wii U–and that was a decade ago. The only hurdle here is that the FTC doesn’t consider Nintendo to be a part of the sale worth blocking.
GeForce NOW
Nvidia was one of the companies that told the FTC last month it had concerns about the sale. The company was worried the games would become exclusive to Microsoft Cloud services and “stressed the need for equal and open access to game titles.” Nvidia didn’t directly oppose the sale though, and it seems Microsoft is rewarding the company for it. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, announced on Twitter that the company signed an agreement with Nvidia for a 10-year deal as well.
We have signed a 10 year agreement with NVIDIA that will allow GeForce NOW players to stream Xbox PC games as well as Activision Blizzard PC titles, including COD, following the acquisition. We´re committed to bringing more games to more people – however they choose to play.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 21, 2023
The deal also seems to stress that GeForce NOW will be able to stream more than just Call of Duty using their cloud-based streaming service. As one of the biggest companies to express concern and a huge player in the PC gaming market, this is a major win.
PlayStation
The biggest holdout and opponent of the sale is Sony. Microsoft VP Brad Smith is currently making the argument that Sony has more exclusive games on their consoles that aren’t Xbox compatible than Microsoft has that aren’t PlayStations compatible.
Microsoft’s @BradSmi on Xbox cross-platform + exclusives: “Microsoft has 58 games already running on PlayStation, Sony only has 2 running on Xbox. We’ve said that if this acquisition goes through, we’re happy to make sure that there’s a #59 with Call of Duty and no doubt others.” pic.twitter.com/YT3nCKqtJi
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) February 21, 2023
The numbers he provided seem to indicate that they are also counting the games Bethesda released before Microsoft bought it.
“Sony has 286 exclusive titles, and Microsoft only has 59 on Xbox. Mostly what you see is a cross-platform strategy for Microsoft even before this deal. Now as we look to the future, we believe the future is even more cross-platform than it has been in the past.“
“It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for ’em.” – Pepper Brooks
