Microsoft has signed a 10-year legal agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty (CoD) to Nintendo players, according to a tweet by Microsoft President Brad Smith. The agreement will provide Nintendo with the same access to CoD as Xbox, with full feature and content parity. Smith also confirmed that Microsoft plans to bring other Xbox games to Nintendo platforms as part of the agreement.
In a statement, Microsoft stated that it is committed to providing long-term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms. The tech giant had previously offered Sony a similar deal for PlayStation consoles and committed to offering the game on Steam at the same time as Xbox, provided the acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.
These deals are part of Microsoft’s efforts to convince regulators to allow its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to proceed. However, the deal is currently in limbo as the US Federal Trade Commission has sued to block the takeover. The UK may also require Activision to divest parts of its business for the merger to proceed, while the European Union is reportedly set to join the UK in declaring that the proposed acquisition could reduce competition.
To defend the deal, Microsoft reportedly requested a hearing with EU regulators. The meeting is set for today, according to Reuters. The acquisition has faced criticism from Sony, which called it a “game-changer that poses a threat to our industry.” Microsoft responded by saying that Sony’s comments were “self-serving” and promised to support Call of Duty on PlayStation “forever.”
