Things seem to be heating up as Microsoft attempts to finally close the Activision Blizzard acquisition. The biggest hurdle throughout this entire process has been the fate of Call of Duty. It is one of the biggest video game franchises currently, and companies like Sony are worried that Microsoft will make it exclusive to Xbox. While Microsoft has said it has no intention of making Call of Duty exclusive, simple promises do not seem to be cutting it.
To alleviate concerns, Microsoft seems to finally be signing Call of Duty deals with multiple companies. It desperately wants to close this $70 billion deal, and it is doing everything it can to accomplish this. What started as a simple promise to Nintendo seems to have evolved into multiple 10-year deals to bring all sorts of Xbox titles to new platforms, and introduce the brand to thousands of new gamers.
Nintendo
After promising to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms once the acquisition was approved, Microsoft has officially signed a 10-year deal with the company. It has entered into a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo platforms, with Call of Duty being the main focus of the deal. The games will apparently arrive on the Switch the same day as Xbox and will be the complete package with nothing removed. This will mark the first time that Call of Duty has appeared on a Nintendo console since Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013, and it will be interesting to see how the Nintendo Switch handles the latest titles.
Nvidia
Microsoft has also revealed that it signed a deal with Nvidia to bring Xbox PC games to Geforce Now for the next 10 years. Nvidia was initially concerned about the Activision-Blizzard acquisition as it may have given Microsoft an edge in the gaming industry, but this latest deal seems to have alleviated those concerns. While the focus is once again on Call of Duty, other Xbox games will also be joining the GeForce Now library. This will allow players to stream Xbox games to PC, macOS, Chromebooks, and smartphones without having to use Xbox Cloud Gaming. This should bring these games to a much larger audience, and that is great news for cloud gaming users.
Boosteroid
Not content with signing deals with just Nintendo and Nvidia, Microsoft has also announced that it signed a 10-year deal with Boosteroid. Boosteroid is an independent Ukraine-based cloud gaming service that lets players stream their games via the browser and dedicated apps on various platforms. This 10-year deal will bring Xbox Game Studios' titles to the platform, which includes Xbox, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard games. While this service may be small, this deal will likely give it a nice boost, but the ABK deal needs to get approved first.
Ubitus
The latest 10-year contract that Microsoft has signed is with the cloud gaming service Ubitus. This Taiwan-based cloud gaming provider helps bring big games to other platforms via cloud streaming. It has helped bring titles like Control, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and Resident Evil 7 to the Nintendo Switch. This deal will give the provider access to Xbox PC Games and Activision Blizzard titles once the deal closes. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this deal in the next couple of years.
In the span of a couple of months, Microsoft has signed 10-year deals with four different companies to bring Xbox and Activision Blizzard games to more people, but the majority of these deals are contingent on if the deal is approved. The company has also offered Sony a similar 10-year Call of Duty deal, but the two companies have not signed anything yet. Maybe that will change eventually, but for now, it seems like Microsoft will forge ahead without the acquisition's main opposition.