Microsoft really wants this Activision deal to happen and to ensure it does. The company has reached a 10-year agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles.
It’s been nine years since the world’s most popular game, not called Fortnite, was on a Nintendo console, but that has all changed thanks to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, currently walking on thin ice.
To prove to regulators that Microsoft is not trying to keep the competition from being able to compete, the company agreed to a 10-year deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles if the Activision Blizzard acquisition clears the hurdles in front of it.
Microsoft has also agreed to bring Call of Duty games to Steam on the same day COD launches on Xbox.
This move puts pressure on Sony to accept a similar agreement Microsoft presented to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and comes days after Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said, “Sony has emerged as the loudest objector” to Microsoft’s earth-shattering $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed the agreement between Microsoft, Nintendo, and Valve on Twitter Tuesday night ahead of his closed-door meeting with the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday.
According to a Bloomberg report, FTC chair Lina Khan is expected to meet with Brad Smith and other Microsoft executives.
These recent developments have come after reports suggest the FTC is prepping a legal challenge to block the Activision Blizzard acquisition from happening.
The acquisition also faces scrutiny from the EU and UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Microsoft has pushed back, calling the CMA’s concerns “misplaced” and a result of the regulator adopting “Sony’s complaints without considering the potential harm to consumers.”
Gamers React To Call of Duty Coming To Nintendo
So what do gamers think of Call of Duty coming to Nintendo? The news is understandably being met with some confusion, mainly because Nintendo’s current console, the Nintendo Switch, is woefully inadequate to handle a game like Call of Duty.
The Nintendo Switch’s power has come under scrutiny after the release of the latest Pokemon game, which runs like “a**” as many gamers have said about the title, but it still has broken records.
Some gamers have pointed out that there is a successful Call of Duty Mobile game, so why can’t there be a version on the Nintendo Switch?
Also, there are those rumors of a new “Switch Pro” in the works.
We shall see if Xbox can get the acquisition to go through. Until then, you can see more reactions to the news in the gallery below.
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Photo: Infinity Ward / Call of Duty
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