As of yesterday, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard was finally completed after months of struggle. Shortly afterwards, Ubisoft also spoke out and confirmed details of the agreement reached with Activision Blizzard – and this agreement is quite far-reaching.
In order for Microsoft to complete the purchase of Activision Blizzard, the Redmond company and the publisher had to make far-reaching concessions in order to satisfy the antitrust authorities and market watchdogs around the world. Among other things, 10-year deals were entered into with Sony, Nintendo and NVIDIA, which, for example, guarantee the new parts of the shooter series Call of Duty on these platforms for the duration of the agreements.
Activision Blizzard and Microsoft also entered into a deal with Ubisoft, and it’s even a little more far-reaching. The agreement guarantees Ubisoft the cloud streaming rights for all Activision Blizzard games – for the next 15 years until 2038. The fact that there was a deal between the companies had already become public in the summer with the purchase of Activision Blizzard announced this yesterday, October 13th. This has now come into force.
According to Chris Early, SVP of Strategic Partnership & Business Development at Ubisoft, the Activision Blizzard titles will also be available as part of the Ubisoft+ game subscription during the mentioned period. Furthermore, the agreement not only applies to titles that are already available, but also to new releases in the next 15 years.
In order for Microsoft to get approval for the deal from the CMA, Ubisoft even secured exclusive cloud streaming rights in some markets; in other regions it is a non-exclusive distribution license, including the European Union. In the future, you will be able to stream Activison titles via Xbox Cloud Gaming as well as Ubisoft+.
Sounds almost absurd, but there is actually a trailer for Microsoft’s now completed takeover of Activision Blizzard King.