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| Microsoft inked a deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo for 10 years |
Microsoft's head of games, Phil Spencer, said on Wednesday that Microsoft has reached an agreement with Nintendo to bring the popular Call of Duty game to the Japanese company's gaming platforms over the next decade.
The Microsoft-Nintendo deal is subject to US Federal Trade Commission approval of a controversial acquisition between Microsoft and Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. Both parties previously said they would complete the deal by mid-2023.
Given the $69 billion deal and its potential impact on the gaming industry, many government agencies, including the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, have raised concerns that Microsoft will use titles that Activision Blizzard has a monopoly on for its Xbox gaming platform.
Therefore, the American tech giant has tried to address these concerns by confirming that the Call of Duty game will not be limited to Xbox but will also be available on gaming platforms from competing companies.
“After the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has committed for 10 years to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo,” Spencer tweeted. Play the game the way you want to.
When Microsoft struck a similar deal with Japan's Sony, its main rival in the gaming console market, Microsoft Vice President and CEO Brad Smith said he was ready to seal the deal.
"Any day Sony wants to sit down and talk, we'd love to secure a 10-year PlayStation deal," Smith tweeted.
Smith reportedly offered Sony a 10-year deal whereby future Call of Duty games would be released on PlayStation at the same time as Xbox in order to eliminate any monopoly issues.
Microsoft confirmed its agreement with Nintendo to CNET and also confirmed another 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on Valve's Steam game streaming service.