Ubisoft Reveals Strategy For Streaming Activision Blizzard Games: Everything You Need to Know

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is complete, meaning Ubisoft now has the cloud streaming rights for Call of Duty and all other Activision Blizzard games, coming over the next 15 years.

Conditions set out by the UK Regulators dictated that Microsoft would have to sell the streaming rights to an independent party, and Ubisoft quickly jumped to acquire those rights for an undisclosed sum. The French publisher has published a blog revealing everything that will happen with streaming Activision Blizzard games for Microsoft.

Ubisoft’s Licensing Plans for Streaming Activision Blizzard Titles to Other Services

Ubisoft will now completely control where Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles will show up on cloud gaming services. However, the only exceptions are EU countries and other cloud gaming deals signed by Microsoft previously. If you live in a country part of the European Economic Area, you’ll get a free license to stream the game via any cloud game streaming service you choose.

For players outside the EEA region, it’s now up to Ubisoft to choose which services get the rights for cloud streaming Activision Blizzard games, which includes licensing these games to Microsoft to include them in Xbox Game Pass.

Ubisoft’s SVP of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development, Chris Early, elaborated on the company’s plan on the blog. So far, there’s no mention that Microsoft can simply buy a license.

When Chris Early was asked about what games are included in the deal, he commented, “The deal includes all the Activision Blizzard games that are being distributed today and includes all the games that Activision Blizzard will release over the next 15 years.”

Initially, Ubisoft plans to stream all the Activision Blizzard games via Ubisoft+, but eventually, it will begin to hit services such as Amazon Luna. When asked, “When can players expect to be able to play all these games on Ubisoft+?” Early Responded with 

“We know players are excited for more games to come to Ubisoft+, and we will take the time we need to make sure that the back end fully supports the experience we want players to have. Now that the deal is closed, the operational element can begin to kick off.”

In theory, the publisher can deny Microsoft a license for future Activision Blizzard games, but in reality, it’s not really going to happen. However, Microsoft would have to pay a lot to license Activision Blizzard titles for Xbox Game Pass.