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Call of Duty will finally be arriving on the Nintendo platform amid Microsoft's bid to buy Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft has officially confirmed a 10-year agreement with Nintendo in a deal that will see the Call Of Duty franchise be made available to Nintendo platforms as part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Last year, Microsoft confirmed it had entered talks with Nintendo over a decade-long deal in December.
Now, a statement from Microsoft on Tuesday, February 21, revealed that a 10-year legal agreement has been reached with Nintendo to bring Call Of Duty games to Nintendo platforms “with full feature and content parity” on the same day as their Xbox and PlayStation release.
The news was revealed on Twitter by Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith, followed by an official statement that read:
“Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players - the same day as Xbox with full feature and content parity - so they can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty.”
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However, the deal will only be valid if Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is successful.
The news comes just as Microsoft is reportedly preparing to plead its case to EU regulators this week.
The closed hearing which was held this week, was attended by representatives from Microsoft including Brad Smith and Xbox head Phil Spencer, as well as Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, and Sony’s Jim Ryan.
Representatives from Google, Nvidia, Valve, Electronic Arts, the European Games Developer Federation, and over half a dozen different national competition observers were also expected to be in attendance, Reuters reports.
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Microsoft offered nearly $70billion (£58billion) to acquire the company. But since then, there have been growing concerns over what the potential the merger would mean for the gaming industry.
Microsoft trigger concerns over imminent Activision Blizzard deal
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Microsoft has recently come under criticism from fans and government agencies over its proposed takeover of Activision Blizzard - a move which Sony is strongly opposed to with the belief that an acquisition could influence players to switch consoles.
While Call of Duty is unarguably one of the biggest franchises in the world, Sony continues to criticise the takeover expressing concerns over a potential gaming monopoly.
Earlier this month, the company had also received a formal antitrust warning from the EU over the deal, while signalling the deal’s impact on fair competition in the gaming market.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, who have refuted such claims, have since made a public commitment to continue releasing Call Of Duty games on PlayStation as well as other platforms.
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The company had also previously offered the same 10-year deal to their fierce competitors Sony to keep Call Of Duty on the PlayStation platform, but they are yet to publicly announce an agreement.
And although Call of Duty is a massive franchise, Microsoft claims that it is not the primary reason behind the bid to purchase Activision Blizzard, with the company having also stated its intention to move into the mobile gaming space, despite currently focusing on PC and console.
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