Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for a hefty amount of $69 billion back in January 2022, and things have been in the works ever since, but nothing has come to a conclusion. In fact, Microsoft was opposed by Sony and other platforms, and a case was filed with EU regulators.
Concerns were raised not only by Sony but also by the UK’s antitrust watchdog, which claimed that Microsoft would gain exclusive control of a too-big franchise. From our perspective, at one point, it appeared that Microsoft would have to sell a franchise in order to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft, as always, played it smart by announcing that they were working with Nintendo to strike a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles in December 2022, but it all appeared to be Microsoft’s move to strengthen their case.
Turns out, Microsoft was serious about the deal, and earlier today, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced on Twitter they had reached an agreement, which is now a signed and binding legal agreement.
According to the deal, Xbox and Activision titles will also become available to Nintendo console users on the same day as the Xbox users with full features and content parity.
Now honestly, this deal is not only good for Microsoft but also goes in the interest of the gaming community as they will be able to enjoy the games on more platforms.
It is worth noting, however, that it has been nearly a decade since a Call of Duty game was released on Nintendo, with the last being Call of Duty: Ghosts on Wii U. And we all know that Nintendo’s hardware is outdated in comparison to Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S.
So, for the time being, it appears that Microsoft will release Call of Duty as a cloud version. However, the graphics quality and game performance will suffer as a result.
Since Microsoft is yet to announce when this agreement will become a reality, it is possible that Microsoft will wait for Nintendo to release hardware compatible with Call of Duty before releasing the game on Switch.
