This time it's on paper, but it still requires Microsoft to spend a nearly-nice amount of money.
It's official - if Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard King, Nintendo platforms will get Call of Duty day and date.
Microsoft president Brad Smith announced the agreement's formal signature late last night, calling it a "binding 10 year legal agreement" for the popular nationalist shooter series to be on Nintendo systems day and date with Xbox platforms. The deal reportedly contains "full feature and content parity".
The deal comes as Microsoft meets with European regulators today in an attempt to have the $68.7bn purchase of ABK approved without conditions; proposed methods of approval included Call of Duty as a franchise or the "Activision" portion of the company being divested.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
It seems weird that they have signed on to making games for an IP that have not yet acquired. I am guessing that if the deal does not go down, Activision has no obligation to make any games for Nintendo?That’s the way I read it. That 10-year agreement is contingent on the acquisition going through though there’s nothing currently or previously stopping Activision Blizzard from releasing anything on Nintendo hardware other than it didn’t want to. This formal agreement is clearly meant to push the acquisition through regulators, intended as an act of good faith even if it isn’t. Trying to take a wider view of this, 10 years is a really short amount of time compared to potentially owning one of the oldest, largest publishers forever.