Microsoft Agrees to 10-Year Call of Duty Deal With Nintendo
Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. agreed to a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo gaming platforms, signaling a willingness to share one of the game industry's most important titles at a time of growing consolidation in the industry.
The agreement depends on Microsoft closing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., the Redmond, Washington-based company said. The duration of the deal can be further extended after the initial period and Microsoft is committed to expanding the number of platforms on which people can play games, Xbox chief Phil Spencer told Bloomberg News. Microsoft also said it's committed to offering Call of Duty on Valve Corp.'s Steam platform at the same time as it's released on Xbox.
The company has extended a similar offer to Sony Group Corp., to bring the famous Activision franchise to PlayStation consoles for a decade, but that has so far been rebuffed by the Japanese company, Spencer said. Sony has fiercely objected to the Activision acquisition, primarily because of concerns the US tech giant could make content like Call of Duty exclusive to its own gaming services.
“This deal and especially its timing clearly looks like Microsoft trying to appease regulators,” said Tokyo-based analyst Serkan Toto. “I have a hard time imagining recent mainline Call of Duty titles running on current Nintendo hardware, but the next Switch will certainly be able to handle such a game.”
Microsoft executives are set to meet with US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and other commissioners Wednesday to make its final case in support of the deal.
“Our intent is to become more relevant on more screens,” Spencer said. “We have a pretty good idea of how to build a win-win relationship
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