Microsoft has claimed that it has confirmed a “legally-binding” 10-year deal to bring Call Of Duty to Nintendo platforms as part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The pledge for the decade-long deal was made by Microsoft last December on the proviso of the purchase deal being completed. But earlier this month the company was asked to remove 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 completed in 2022 and cost approximately £50billion ($68billion USD). However the move has faced ongoing criticism from numerous regulatory bodies and fans.
“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,” starts the report.
The provisional report found “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 statement from Microsoft reveals that it and Nintendo have “negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement” to bring Call Of Duty games to Nintendo platforms “with full feature and content parity” on the same day as their Xbox release.
“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 company added.
The news was confirmed on Twitter by the company’s Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith.
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
Following the provisional report from the CMA, Microsoft released a statement that said: “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 said: “When we say equal, we mean equal. 10 years of parity. On content. On pricing. On features. On quality. On playability.”
Microsoft previously offered the same 10-year deal to Sony to keep Call Of Duty on PlayStation, which the company hasn’t publicly agreed to.
Sony previously argued that Microsoft’s ownership of the Call of Duty brand could influence players to switch console platforms despite the company’s public commitment to continue releasing Call Of Duty games on PlayStation.
