After a closed hearing with the European Commission, Microsoft has announced a new agreement with Nvidia. The 10-year deal will see first-party Xbox games that are playable on PC (like Minecraft) arriving on GeForce Now. And, if the Activision Blizzard acquisition passes, that would mean titles from the Call of Duty franchise arriving on the streaming service too.
GamesIndustry.biz‘s Christopher Dring first highlighted the notable pact on Twitter while covering Microsoft’s media briefing today for the website. Microsoft president Brad Smith reportedly believes that this new deal with Nvidia–along with a 10-year Call of Duty partnership with Nintendo–will help get their Activision Blizzard acquisition approved by various government regulators.
“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play,” said Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer in a press 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.”
Microsoft has also supposedly offered a 10-year Call of Duty deal to Sony to keep the FPS franchise on PlayStation platforms. But the two companies don’t appear to be close to agreeing on those terms.
In addition to European regulators, Microsoft is also facing resistance from the US government’s Federal Trade Commission. No settlement talks regarding Activision have taken place as of last month.
Microsoft unveiled its plans to purchase Activision back in January 2022 for nearly $70 billion. If the acquisition actually goes through, it would be the biggest gaming acquisition in history and the biggest acquisition Microsoft has ever made.
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