Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Ever since Microsoft announced its massive deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, several parties around the gaming and entertainment industries have come forth to oppose the deal on anti-compeititve concerns. As Microsoft battles heat from Sony and foreign governments over its proposed acquisition, the Xbox creator has been inking deals with other platform owners to ensure that it won’t be taking Call of Duty, or any of its other newly-acquired IPs exclusive following the closure of the deal. This week, Microsoft announced that it had signed two 10-year deals to bring its games to cloud gaming service providers Boosteroid and Ubitus.
Microsoft announced the latest batch of deals in back to back days this week. The first was Boosteroid, the cloud gaming company based in Ukraine. According to Microsoft’s press release, the service recently crossed 4 million global users. “We believe in the power of games to bring people together. That’s why Xbox is committed to give everyone more ways to play their favorite games, across devices,” said Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of gaming.
The second deal to be announced this week was the one with Ubitus. Another cloud gaming service provider, Ubitus is most known for its work in helping developers bring titles to Swithc via cloud gaming. Hitman 3, Resident Evil 7, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey were all brought to the Switch through Ubitus’ cloud gaming service. “Our commitment is to give more players, more choice,” said Phil Spencer in his tweet announcing the deal.
These are just the latest deals from Microsoft in attempt to assuage concerns that it will make popular franchises like Call of Duty an Xbox/Windows exclusive after acquiring Activision Blizzard. The company has also signed a 10-year deal with Nintendo to bring games to the Switch. A similar offer was made to Sony, though the PlayStation creator turned it down as it looks to stop the acquisition from happening.