Microsoft Teams Up With NVIDIA To Bring Activision Blizzard Games To GeForce NOW
Microsoft is really working to assure everyone that they won’t be hogging Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles, at least for the next decade anyway. After signing a 10-year licensing deal with Nintendo, the company has also partnered with NVIDIA to bring the popular shooter franchise to the latter’s cloud gaming service, GeForce NOW.
“Microsoft and NVIDIA announced the companies have agreed to a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox PC games to the NVIDIA® GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, which has more than 25 million members in over 100 countries,” reads the press release. “The agreement will enable gamers to stream Xbox PC titles from GeForce NOW to PCs, macOS, Chromebooks, smartphones and other devices. It will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles, such as Call of Duty, to be streamed on GeForce NOW after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision closes.”
“The partnership delivers increased choice to gamers and resolves NVIDIA’s concerns with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. NVIDIA therefore is offering its full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition,” added NVIDIA. “Microsoft and NVIDIA will begin work immediately to integrate Xbox PC games into GeForce NOW, so that GeForce NOW members can stream PC games they buy in 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.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard representatives attended a closed hearing with the European Commission earlier this week to plead their case and hopefully convince the commission to approve their $68 billion merger. “We are bringing Call of Duty to 150 million more people who don’t get it today,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told the EU Commission.
Smith also said that they’re still hoping to work out a deal with Sony now that they’ve signed agreements with Nintendo and NVIDIA. “Sony can spend all its energy trying to block this deal, which will reduce competition and slow the evolution of the market. Or they can sit down with us, and hammer out a deal.”
Activision Blizzard representatives added that Sony’s refusal to get on board with the merger is merely an attempt to “protect its two-decade dominance in video games” and that the deal will in fact enhance competition in the video game market instead of stifling it and will help “create greater opportunities” for workers.
