Activision Blizzard games like Call Of Duty, Overwatch 2 and World Of Warcraft could be added to Ubisoft’s streaming service soon according to a new announcement.
In response to another rejection from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft tried to rectify the regulator’s point of contention in this move to sell streaming rights to those games to Ubisoft+.
“To address the concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a narrower set of rights,” it said in a statement (via Video Games Chronicle).
“This includes executing an agreement effective at the closing of our merger that transfers the cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher. The rights will be in perpetuity,” it explained.
As a result, it imagined that the CMA would have enough time to review the new transaction and finalise it ahead of its own imposed deadline of October 18.
“Under the restructured transaction, Microsoft will not be in a position either to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on its own cloud streaming service – Xbox Cloud Gaming – or to exclusively control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for rival services,” concluded Microsoft.
Chris Early, senior vice president of strategic partnerships and business development at Ubisoft, expressed the developer and publisher’s enthusiasm to offer “a large library of beloved and classic titles as well as the newest releases” through Ubisoft+. “We’re dedicated to delivering amazing experiences to our players wherever they choose to play,” he said in a post to its website.
“Over the past 15 years we’ve built and honed our online services and distribution ecosystem into one of the most complete in the industry. Today’s deal gives players even more opportunities to access and enjoy some of the biggest brands in gaming,” praised Early.
However, the question remained whether this rearrangement would be sufficient to convince the CMA. Alex Haffner, competition partner at the UK law firm Fladgate, shared that the regulator will likely take its time reexamining the new terms, but that Microsoft thinks that this would be the very last hurdle for approval.
“It is hard to believe Microsoft would have taken this new course without a high degree of confidence it will now in due course (finally) get a regulatory green light from the CMA,” said Haffner.
Last week, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 published details on the game’s multiplayer modes as well as the reveal that modernised versions of all of the maps from the original Modern Warfare 2 are on their way to the game.