Microsoft announced partnerships with Nvidia and Nintendo to persuade European Union officials to approve its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company behind the famous Call of Duty game franchise.
Overview
Microsoft President Brad Smith met behind closed doors with EU regulators and competitors in Brussels on Tuesday to address concerns that Activision Blizzard’s acquisition could harm competition in the video game industry. Regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom have also expressed concern about the transaction.
According to a statement from the software giant, “This partnership resolves Nvidia’s concerns with Activision” Blizzard, Microsoft (MSFT) announced a 10-year agreement with Nvidia to bring Xbox PC games to Nvidia’s cloud gaming service.
As a result, Nvidia pledged its full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition.” Microsoft would bring the latest version of the most known game, “Call of Duty,” to the Nintendo platform for ten years after the merger with Activision.
“A lot changed today because Microsoft announced two agreements to bring the most anticipated game, i.e., Call of Duty, for 150 million more people on Nintendo devices and Nvidia’s cloud streaming services,” Smith said.
Final Note
He went on to say that these two agreements address the concern that Call of Duty will be less available than it is now and will instead make it more functional due to these two binding agreements.
“We’re really down to one major company objecting to the deal, and that’s Sony, and we’ve made it clear that we’re happy to enter a 10-year agreement with Sony, and we’re also willing to enter regulatory obligations, whether it’s in London, Brussels, or Washington,” Smith said. “Along with the contract, we’d have a legal obligation.”