In a bid to convince regulators to let it buy Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is pledging it’ll bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo’s platform of all places.
Microsoft CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer announced the surprising 10-year agreement with Nintendo on Tuesday. “Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people —however they choose to play,” Spencer tweeted.
In addition, Spencer says Microsoft remains committed to launching Call of Duty games on PC gaming marketplace Steam the same day they arrive for the Xbox.
Spencer announced the news as Microsoft faces opposition from Sony over letting its rival acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. One of Sony’s key concerns is Microsoft eventually making Call of Duty exclusive to the Xbox console if the deal goes through.
In response, Microsoft has repeatedly pledged it’ll keep releasing Call of Duty for other platforms once it absorbs Activision Blizzard. In an op-ed earlier this week, Microsoft President Brad Smith said a 10-year contract "to make each new 'Call of Duty' release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox" was also offered to Sony.
Redmond also argues the merger will benefit the games industry by helping it compete against Sony and Nintendo. Nevertheless, government regulators, including the FTC and the EU, are reportedly gearing up to challenge the deal over their own antitrust concerns.
The growing resistance apparently triggered Microsoft to strike a deal with competitor Nintendo on the Call of Duty franchise. But the agreement is raising eyebrows since a Call of Duty game hasn’t been on the Nintendo platform since 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts for the Wii U, notes IGN.
It’s also doubtful today’s Nintendo Switch hardware —which first released in 2017— can even run the most recent Call of Duty games since they feature high-end graphics. Doing so would likely require Microsoft to water down the visuals when many Switch users may not even care to play the games on the hardware.
In a statement, Nintendo merely said: "Nintendo confirms the accuracy of the Microsoft statement. We have nothing further to announce on this topic.” But it’s possible Microsoft is pledging to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo’s next-generation console, which will feature more powerful specs.
In the meantime, Valve CEO Gabe Newell has said he welcomes Microsoft’s commitment to keeping the Call of Duty franchise on Steam. “Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment but it wasn’t necessary for us,” Newell told Kotaku in a statement.
He added: “a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be.”