Joystiq
Joystiq News
Late last year, Microsoft that it was "committed" to bringing Call of Duty (CoD) to Nintendo for 10 years if its Activision Blizzard acquisition was approved. Now, president Brad Smith has that the "binding" 10-year contract has been signed, and confirmed that Nintendo would get the same access to CoD as Xbox.
"Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players — the same days as Xbox, with full feature and content parity," Microsoft wrote in a statement. "We are committed to providing long term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms."
Microsoft previously said that it offered Sony a similar deal for PlayStation consoles, and committed to offer the game on Steam at the same time as Xbox — provided the merger goes through, of course.
The deals are all part of Microsoft's efforts to convince regulators allow its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to proceed. The deal is strongly in limbo right now, as the US Federal Trade Commission has , and the UK Activision to divest parts of its business for the merger to proceed.
On top of that, the European Union is set to join the UK in declaring that the proposed acquisition could reduce competition. To that end, Microsoft reportedly requested a hearing with EU regulators to defend the deal — and that meeting is , according to Reuters.
The acquisition ran afoul of regulators from the start over concerns that it would cut off Sony's PS5 and other consoles from key games, particularly CoD. Sony vehemently opposes the deal, having called it a "game-changer that poses a threat to our industry." Microsoft has said that Sony's comments were "self-serving" and to support Call of Duty on PlayStation "forever."
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"Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players — the same days as Xbox, with full feature and content parity," Microsoft wrote in a statement. "We are committed to providing long term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms."
Microsoft previously said that it offered Sony a similar deal for PlayStation consoles, and committed to offer the game on Steam at the same time as Xbox — provided the merger goes through, of course.
The deals are all part of Microsoft's efforts to convince regulators allow its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to proceed. The deal is strongly in limbo right now, as the US Federal Trade Commission has , and the UK Activision to divest parts of its business for the merger to proceed.
On top of that, the European Union is set to join the UK in declaring that the proposed acquisition could reduce competition. To that end, Microsoft reportedly requested a hearing with EU regulators to defend the deal — and that meeting is , according to Reuters.
The acquisition ran afoul of regulators from the start over concerns that it would cut off Sony's PS5 and other consoles from key games, particularly CoD. Sony vehemently opposes the deal, having called it a "game-changer that poses a threat to our industry." Microsoft has said that Sony's comments were "self-serving" and to support Call of Duty on PlayStation "forever."
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