Microsoft’s ongoing effort to acquire Activision Blizzard is already starting to benefit gamers — but on Nvidia’s streaming platform, GeForce Now.
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced it had reached a 10-year deal to bring the company’s PC games, including Xbox titles, to GeForce Now. This means hit franchises including Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls, should arrive soon on GeForce Now.
The company struck the partnership to help convince European regulators to clear Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. According to the announcement, the deal “resolves Nvidia’s concerns with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” which PlayStation maker Sony continues to oppose.
Microsoft President Brad Smith also announced the deal after his company held a closed-door session with the European Commission to convince regulators to approve the acquisition.
In a tweet, Smith noted that if the acquisition goes through, Microsoft has signed binding deals to also bring Activision’s Call of Duty franchise to both GeForce Now and Nintendo platforms for the next 10 years.
Microsoft has its own cloud gaming platform through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which has provided some competition to Nvidia's GeForce Now. So Redmond is giving up some competitive edge in order to try and secure its deal for the bigger prize of owning Activision.
In the case of GeForce Now, Nvidia and Microsoft plan on immediately working together to bring the Xbox PC games to the game streaming service. This would allow GeForce Now subscribers to stream PC games they’ve already bought from the Windows Store, “including third-party partner titles where the publisher has granted streaming rights to Nvidia.”
“Xbox PC games currently available in third party stores like Steam or Epic Games Store will also be able to be streamed through GeForce Now,” Microsoft and Nvidia added.
Despite the agreements with Nvidia and Nintendo, Microsoft may still face an uphill battle to acquire Activision Blizzard. In addition to the European Commission, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and the US Federal Trade Commission also oppose the tie-up on concerns Microsoft will eventually pull the Activision games from rival platforms, hurting consumers.