Microsoft and Nvidia announced a 10-year partnership, potentially opening the door for Activision Blizzard PC titles coming to mobile devices.
Microsoft’s $70 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard still hangs in the balance, as EU antitrust regulators confirmed a decision by March 23, 2023, whether to clear or block the deal. The UK CMA and US FTC also need to provide decisions as well.
On February 21, CharlieINTEL reported leaders of Xbox, PlayStation, Google, NVIDIA, and other gaming companies spoke in front of EU regulators to share their thoughts on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
According to GameIndustry Biz, Sony opposed a 10-year contract to keep CoD on PlayStation. However, Microsoft was able to strike 10-year deals with Nintendo and Nvidia, potentially supplying Activision Blizzard titles to their platforms if the deal goes through.
Here’s everything you need to know about how Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would impact mobile gaming.
Microsoft and Nvidia sign 10-year partnership agreement
GeForce NOW is Nvidia’s subscription service, which lets players stream directly from PC’s featuring RTX GPUs to other devices such as a Mac, TV, Android Devices, iPhones, and iPads. On February 21, Microsoft and Nvidia announced a new gaming deal, potentially adding Activision Blizzard titles to the subscription service.
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This means players could have titles such as Call of Duty on their smartphones and other devices.
CharlieINTEL reported Microsoft’s President Brad Smith feels “more optimistic” about the Activision Blizzard deal being approved, with the backing of Nintendo and NVIDIA, but Sony still stands in the way.
Microsoft's President says he "more optimistic" about the ABK deal being approved than he was 24 hours ago, but it does not appear the EU hearing went well overall today – they had Nintendo, NVIDIA deals ready, but Sony is still not on board.
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) February 21, 2023
“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. “This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalog of titles, including games like Call of Duty while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love.”
The agreement also allows gamers to stream Xbox PC titles from GeForce NOW to PCs, MacOS, smartphones, and other devices.
We will provide an update when we learn more about Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.