Microsoft announces 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles

Microsoft has reached an agreement with Nintendo to bring the popular Call of Duty series to Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years, Phil Spencer, the tech titan’s head of games, announced Wednesday night. in a Twitter post.

Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to bringing more games to more people, however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB

—Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022

The deal is dependent on US Federal Trade Commission approval of a controversial and planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard – the makers of Call of Duty – by Microsoft. Both parties have previously said they expect the deal to be finalized by mid-2023. Due to the size of the deal and its potential impact on the games industry, many government bodies, including the UK Competition and Markets Authority, have problems with the merger.

A company the size of Microsoft acquiring a company as large as Activision Blizzard has raised monopoly issues from many different parties. A deal like this, which would ensure that Activision Blizzard’s biggest game franchise would appear on a non-Microsoft game console, could allay those concerns.

“Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard,” Spencer tweeted. “Microsoft is committed to bringing more games to more people, however they choose to play. »

Microsoft has yet to strike a deal with Sony, its biggest console competitor, but Brad Smith, vice president and president of Microsoft, has said he’s ready to strike a deal.

Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more players and more platforms than ever before. It’s good for competition and good for consumers. Thanks @Nintendo. Any day @Sony wants to sit down and talk, we’ll be happy to do a 10-year contract for PlayStation as well. https://t.co/m1IQxdeo6n

—Brad Smith (@BradSmi) December 7, 2022

“Any day Sony wants to sit down and talk,” Smith tweeted, “we’ll also be happy to do a 10-year PlayStation deal.”

Reportedly, Smith had already offered Sony a 10-year deal that guaranteed future Call of Duty games would be released on the same date on PlayStation and Xbox consoles in a bid to allay any concerns.

Microsoft confirmed Nintendo’s deal with CNET, and also confirmed that a second 10-year deal has been struck to keep Call of Duty on Valve’s Steam service.