Microsoft announced two separate deals to bring Xbox games to other platforms. Nvidia and Microsoft signed a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox PC games to the Nvidia GeForce Now cloud streaming service.
In a tweet from Microsoft President Brad Smith, it was announced that Microsoft and Nintendo have signed a binding 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo players on the same day as Xbox.
Analysis
The announcements are clearly an effort to assure antitrust regulators that the merger with Activision Blizzard will not shut off games from non-Nintendo platforms.
It was interesting that the tweet from Smith claimed “full feature and content parity,” but did not mention price parity. If Microsoft Xbox Game Pass subscribers get the game for free while Nintendo and Nvidia players must pay full price, that will still be a major advantage for Microsoft.
The content and feature parity is also interesting. Call of Duty does not usually release for Nintendo platforms. The Nintendo Switch is probably not powerful enough to run the latest Call of Duty. It seems hard to imagine how a future Nintendo Call of Duty could have the same features as an Xbox or PC version.
Overall DFC views this announcement as primarily lip service to appease regulators. Nevertheless, DFC still believes based on existing law and arguments presented the merger is likely to go through.
