Microsoft announces Call of Duty deal with Switch cloud game provider
Microsoft has signed a ten-year deal with Ubitus, a Japanese cloud gaming service, allowing the company to add Xbox PC games as well as Activision Blizzard products like Call of Duty to its offerings. This comes just one day after Microsoft struck a similar deal with Boosteroid, a cloud gaming provider based in Ukraine.
Microsoft has previously signed contracts of this nature with NVIDIA and Nintendo in a bid to win approval from regulators for its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Phil Spencer, President of Gaming at Microsoft, stated: “Microsoft and Ubitus, a leading cloud gaming provider, have signed a 10-year partnership to stream Xbox PC Games as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes. Our commitment is to give more players more choice.”
Having Ubitus on board not only gives Microsoft another argument in the ongoing battle against Sony and its accusations of Microsoft trying to hamper market competition. Ubitus is the leading provider of cloud gaming services for the Nintendo Switch, with games like Resident Evil Village, Hitman 3, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy being playable on the console through Ubitus.
Making Call of Duty playable on Nintendo Switch through the cloud service could be one way for Microsoft to make good on its promises towards Nintendo and also deflate arguments about their agreement being negligible. The UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) argued that the Switch could not run the same version of Call of Duty with full feature parity as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S due to the console’s technical limitations.
Microsoft’s recent moves have reportedly already changed the EU’s position on the Activision Blizzard acquisition, to the ire of Sony, which claimed Microsoft could sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation if it were to take control of the developer.
Final decisions about the acquisition from the EU and the CMA are due on April 25 and 26 respectively.
