Microsoft is restructuring its proposed Activision Blizzard deal to transfer cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft. The transfer of rights is designed to appease regulators in the UK that are concerned about the impact Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion deal will have on cloud gaming competition. The restructured deal has triggered a new regulatory investigation in the UK that could last until October 18th.
Ubisoft get the non-windows streaming rights to Activision games… so what happens with any Acti games that don’t have a PS5 or a Switch port? That means Microsoft maintain exclusivity on a title purely by not porting it to other consoles.
They’ll definitely port Call of Duty and likely any other multiplayer titles, but I can’t see them porting any single player games or new IPs they develop.
From the article:
“Ubisoft will also be able, for a fee, to require Microsoft to adapt Activision’s titles to operating systems other than Windows, such as Linux, if it decides to use or license out the cloud streaming rights to Activision’s titles to a cloud gaming service that runs a non-Windows operating system.”
If Ubi is willing to pay a fee, they can force Microsoft to adapt any ActiBlizz games they want to another operating system for cloud gaming purposes.
Didn’t spot that at all, thanks for pointing it out. I can see them just developing with other platforms in mind then, unless that fee is large enough to cover all the porting costs involved.
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is xbox arguably enough windows?
i’d say no. many people that own an xbox don’t see it as a windows device
Tho legally I think could considered to be, cause it runs windows core and hyper-v
Xbox runs a modified version of Windows. Its a Windows device. It doesn’t matter if “many people that own it don’t see it as a Windows device.”