Microsoft recently signed a big new deal with Ubisoft for cloud gaming to help convince regulators in the United Kingdom to approve the Xbox company’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The deal gives Ubisoft the non-exclusive cloud streaming rights for Call of Duty and every other Activision Blizzard game for the next 15 years. People had a number of questions about the deal, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has now shed some additional light on what it all means.
Speaking to IGN, Spencer said, “We are trying to bring more games to more people. We think doing the deal with Ubisoft, which frees up one of the concerns that the CMA had… will allow more games to go to more people.”
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Spencer said Ubisoft is a “good partner” that Microsoft is familiar with and independent from. In signing the deal with Ubisoft, Spencer said he hopes the CMA’s concerns that Microsoft would dictate where it games could be streamed are now alleviated.
Ubisoft is just the latest company that Microsoft partnered with for cloud gaming rights for its games, following deals with Nware, EE, Boosteroid, Ubitus, and Nvidia. Microsoft cut these deals to help mitigate the CMA’s concerns that Microsoft might give preferential treatment to its own cloud gaming networks.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have set new terms on their merger deal and the new deadline to close is October 18. The deal has already been approved in the European Union, but the EU Commission stated that it might reassess the deal in light of the updated terms. The CMA is conducting its own new investigation in the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal.
In other cloud gaming news, Microsoft’s next big game, Starfield, will be available through cloud streaming at launch. That means Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play it on their phone or tablet, or even stream it to their original Xbox One.
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