Microsoft’s giant Activision Blizzard deal is complete, and it means Ubisoft has now obtained cloud streaming rights for Call of 🍐 Duty, all other current Activision Blizzard games, and any coming over the next 15 years. It was a key concession 🍐 from Microsoft that helped get the deal over the line with UK regulators. But what does it all mean?
Ubisoft will 🍐 now control where Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games show up on cloud gaming services, with the exception 🍐 of EU countries and the various cloud gaming deals Microsoft signed previously. If you live in a country that’s part 🍐 of the European Economic Area (EEA) — which includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway — then you’ll 🍐 get a free license to stream via “any cloud game streaming services of their choice” all current and future Activision 🍐 Blizzard PC and console games that you have purchased.
If you’re outside the EEA, then it’s up to Ubisoft which services 🍐 get cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games, including licensing these back to Microsoft to include in Xbox Cloud Gaming. 🍐 In theory, Ubisoft could deny Microsoft a license for future Activision Blizzard games, but in reality, that’s extremely unlikely to 🍐 happen. Microsoft will need to pay a wholesale arrangement fee to license Activision Blizzard games for its cloud services, though.
It’s 🍐 also legally possible for Ubisoft to offer Activision Blizzard games exclusively on certain cloud providers but, again, very unlikely. I 🍐 say unlikely because unlike secret deals in the games industry for exclusivity or to keep games off Xbox Game Pass, 🍐 everyone knows Ubisoft is controlling the rights here, and the company would face a backlash if it attempted to deny 🍐 or block games from certain cloud services. Cloud providers will also still be offered a free license to stream these 🍐 games in EU markets, thanks to the European Commission remedy.
Why Ubisoft?
A number of companies wanted the cloud gaming rights for 🍐 Activision Blizzard games and had to essentially pitch the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK. The interview-like process meant 🍐 the CMA picked out the companies that would work best with its concerns over cloud gaming, and then it was 🍐 up to Microsoft to ultimately decide on which company to restructure its deal with.
“We’ve been active in the streaming space 🍐 for a long time and that’s one of the reasons Microsoft came to us; we were the first studio that 🍐 Google worked with for Stadia; the first company that Amazon worked with for Luna; and we’ve been partners with NVIDIA 🍐 GeForce Now for years,” explains Chris Early, Ubisoft’s SVP of strategic partnerships and business development. “To Microsoft, it made sense 🍐 that if somebody was going to be familiar with the space and know what the value would be for streaming, 🍐 it would be us. And we saw the value as well.”
Ubisoft Plus
The deal with Ubisoft means that Activision Blizzard games 🍐 will now be available on Ubisoft Plus, the company’s game subscription service. Work begins on bringing these games to Ubisoft’s 🍐 subscription today, but it’s not clear when they’ll all be available.
While the deal lasts for 15 years, the licenses are 🍐 perpetual, so Ubisoft will still have the rights and still be able to provide games to people and companies worldwide 🍐 (outside of the EEA) even after those 15 years pass by.
“Our expectation is that they will be on Ubisoft Plus, 🍐 and then we have the rights to be able to license them individually to companies as well,” says Early. “Perhaps 🍐 there’s a company somewhere in the world that wants to license those rights and add to the streaming service they 🍐 have or start up a new streaming service, and I think that’s going be part of the fun of the 🍐 next 15 years or more of how streaming evolves.”
Microsoft’s cloud gaming deals
Activision Blizzard games will also be available on a 🍐 variety of cloud gaming services thanks to deals Microsoft struck to appease EU regulators. Those deals include:
Nvidia: operator of GeForce 🍐 Now cloud gaming service
Boosteroid: largest independent cloud gaming provider based in Ukraine
Nware: Spain-based cloud gaming provider
Ubitus: Taiwan-based cloud gaming provider
EE: 🍐 British mobile network provider
