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Microsoft has entered into a 10-year agreement to bring the Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo, following its plans to acquire Activision. CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer took to Twitter to announce the news following the company’s merger with Activision Blizzard King. Spencer also assured players about Call of Duty’s continued availability on Steam and Xbox following the deal. Spencer had previously stated that the deal was about “Giving players choice in how they play their games makes gaming more accessible and leads to larger, more vibrant communities of players."
Call of Duty last appeared on Nintendo consoles in 2013.
Microsoft’s deal with Activision Blizzard King raises eyebrows
Microsoft first announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard King in January of this year for $68.7 billion USD. The deal was subject to much scrutiny by regulatory bodies in the US, UK, and the EU due to the size and scope of the companies involved. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest video game publishers in the world. The company posted an annual revenue of $8.803 billion in 2021. The European Commission raised concerns about reduced competition in the markets for the distribution of console and PC video games and also for PC operating systems if the merger goes through.
Sony has also opposed the merger citing anti-competition laws. The Playstation developer fears Microsoft could make the Call of Duty series exclusive to Xbox, giving them a competitive advantage against Playstation. Microsoft has denied this would happen, pointing to Minecraft which was kept available for the Playstation despite the company’s takeover of Mojang in 2014. Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, Brad Smith tweeted that the acquisition would bring ‘Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before.’ Smith also said they were willing to sit down with Sony to ‘hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation’. The multi-billion dollar deal gives Microsoft ownership of franchises like Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.
