Microsoft has claimed that it has confirmed a “legally-binding” 10-year deal to carry Call Of Duty to Nintendo platforms as a part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The pledge for the decade-long deal was made by Microsoft final December on the proviso of the acquisition deal being accomplished. But earlier this month the corporate was requested to take away Call Of Duty from its takeover by UK regulators.
The UK’s Competition And Markets Authority (CMA) shared its provisional findings into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a deal that was accomplished in 2022 and price roughly £50billion ($68billion USD). However the transfer has confronted ongoing criticism from quite a few regulatory our bodies and followers.
“A CMA investigation has provisionally concluded that Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers,” begins the report.
The provisional report discovered “that a small number of key games, including Call Of Duty, Activision’s flagship game, play an important role in driving competition between consoles.”
Now, a press release from Microsoft reveals that it and Nintendo have “negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement” to carry Call Of Duty video games to Nintendo platforms “with full feature and content parity” on the identical day as their Xbox launch.
“We are committed to providing long term equal access to Call Of Duty to other gaming platforms, bringing more choice to more players and more competition to the gaming market,” the corporate added.
The information was confirmed on Twitter by the corporate’s Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to carry Xbox video games to Nintendo’s avid gamers. This is simply a part of our dedication to carry Xbox video games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to extra gamers on extra platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
Following the provisional report from the CMA, Microsoft launched a press release that mentioned: “We are committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the CMA’s concerns. Our commitment to grant long term 100 per cent equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Nintendo, Steam and others preserves the deal’s benefits to gamers and developers and increases competition in the market. 75 per cent of respondents to the CMA‘s public consultation agree that this deal is good for competition in UK gaming.”
Expanding on the “long term 100 per cent equal access” promise, Microsoft mentioned: “When we say equal, we mean equal. 10 years of parity. On content. On pricing. On features. On quality. On playability.”
Microsoft beforehand provided the identical 10-year deal to Sony to maintain Call Of Duty on PlayStation, which the corporate hasn’t publicly agreed to.
Sony beforehand argued that Microsoft’s possession of the Call of Duty model may affect gamers to modify console platforms regardless of the corporate’s public dedication to proceed releasing Call Of Duty video games on PlayStation.
