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.
When did the last PC only Activison game come out?
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.”
“This is not a green light. We will carefully and objectively assess the details of the restructured deal and its impact on competition, including in light of third-party comments,” says Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA. “Our goal has not changed – any future decision on this new deal will ensure that the growing cloud gaming market continues to benefit from open and effective competition driving innovation and choice.”
This just sounds like an organization who is totally unimportant and disregarded thinking they are important and trying to lord it over the whole world.
Its like a baseball team gloating over their first score in a game, after losing the last 300 games. At this point its gone beyond being a joke.
What? The CMA is trying to prevent Microsoft from using their huge amounts of cash to create a gaming monopoly. A good thing for the consumer. The FTC also wants to block this deal from going through.
It would be really funny if they transfer the rights to Ubisoft, pass the regulators, and then buy Ubisoft 😀
I mean, the regulators would just then stop that acquisition.
I know, that wasn’t a realistic scenario, just an ironic one.
The deal is beneficial to Ubisoft, but it is hard to see that this is good for UK.
Having the streaming rights sitting with Ubisoft but the games themselves owned by Microsoft feels bizarre. I guess it’s like handing the keys to your car off to a friend when you go out drinking because no one trusts you?
I still find myself curious if Ubisoft even has a logical way to integrate these rights with their offerings.
Just cut the UK out. Let their government deal with the fallout of angry consumers. It’s their fault anyway. Microsoft in no way is required to do business in the UK, after all, it is not an UK corporation. Edit: I guess what I’m trying to say is: y’all can VPN like China has to, if you’re going to allow your government to delve deeper beyond the shit our Trump has. I won’t cry for you. Neither will many of those that have been screwed by the UK. You’ll still game on, through a VPN, like the peasants you’re ok with being forced to be once again.
We’re the sixth biggest market for games worldwide, the second biggest in Europe and one of Xboxs top five countries for market share. A platform holder in third place already isn’t going to cut that off over the sake of cloud gaming rights.
I’d rather y’all get cut out than we have to deal with more bullshit. The world at large has dealt with enough of the UKs bullshit anyway. Get your government in order, then come back.
The CMA is an independent body, that’s the point of it. The Government is currently Tory and they love money and big business so would pass this though in an instant if it was up to them, and would probably try to make bank of it if they could.
I don’t agree with the CMAs decisions on this matter, but there’s a good reason MS are going to such lengths to keep them happy in the long run.
At the end of the day, it’s not like Gamepass is so bereft of releases this year we desperately need the Acti-Blizz catalogue, we can wait.
What were you born tomorrow? A capitalist willingly giving up even a buck 25 would supprise me
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I would surely skip a lot of Microsoft content if I had to deal with Ubisoft’s bullshit just to appease the UK. Your empire no longer never sets. And the world should no longer deal with your bullshit. I’ll see you in F1, stfu otherwise.
