Xbox finds a deal with Nintendo and Steam, PlayStation backs itself to the wall
Microsoft has signed a 10-year deal with Nintendo and Valve to bring Call of Duty to Switch and Steam.
Microsoft’s major communications campaign continues to take on Activision-Blizzard. Earlier in the week, Microsoft published an editorial by Brad Smith in the Washington Post referring to the PlayStation as a simple DVD rental in the age of Netflix. At the same time, CWA, the first American union in video games, has an editorial published in The Hill media to support the takeover and announce a historic precedent with Bethesda.
Now the conversation is going on call of duty Microsoft wants to reassure the authorities with very specific agreements.
Please read carefully
It’s Phil Spencer’s turn to defend the case. The boss of Microsoft Gaming has pushed back a bit on this issue, the takeover area is now hierarchically at the level of Microsoft’s management.
I am pleased to confirm that Microsoft will continue to offer Call of Duty @Steam to Xbox simultaneously after Activision Blizzard closed its merger with King. @ATVI_AB @ValveSoftware
-Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
On Twitter, he confirmed the signing of an important contract with Valve and Nintendo. If you read the words of the tweets carefully, the two contracts are different.
As for Nintendo, we are talking about bringing the Call of Duty license to Nintendo platforms for 10 years. We’re definitely thinking about the Switch, but for such a long time, we also have to consider the manufacturer’s next console. In contrast, in a second tweet, Phil Spencer indicates that Xbox is committed to releasing Call of Duty games simultaneously on Xbox and Steam.
Of course, all of this will only happen if Microsoft can take control of Activision-Blizzard and therefore accept the takeover.
Call of Duty is coming to Switch, so what?
So we understand that in Nintendo’s case it’s not necessarily a simultaneous release with Xbox and Steam. In fact, in this tweet, Microsoft doesn’t even commit to releasing the same games call of duty than other platforms.
Obviously, the contract signed with Nintendo is more detailed than the transcript in Phil Spencer’s tweet. But it is also a public obligation where every word has its own importance. Likewise if he undertakes to propose call of duty With 10 years at Nintendo, it doesn’t commit to offering every episode.
For example, the marketing of the game Call of Duty Mobile On Nintendo Switch and will update for the next 10 years in line with the deal outlined in the tweet. If we imagine the main episodes of the franchise coming to the Switch, it can be done thanks to the cloud. More and more cross-platform games are based on this solution for the Switch version.
For Microsoft, we can assume that this is an important compromise to get approval from the authorities. In fact, since the takeover project began, Microsoft has often used an analogy between call of duty and Minecraft in his strategy.
It’s a win-win situation for the tech giant: While promoting Game Pass on its own platforms, it’s massively boosting its revenue with its likely success on the Switch. This deal eventually forced him to get a new source of revenue for the flagship license above all else. We have already seen worse as a limitation.
PlayStation in the corner
Signing this deal with Nintendo and Valve is above all a political gesture to corner Sony.
Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more players and more platforms than ever before. It’s good for competition and it’s good for consumers. Thank you very much @Nintendo. Any day @Sony If he wants to sit down and talk, we’d be happy to do a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well. https://t.co/m1IQxdeo6n
-Brad Smith (@BradSmi) December 7, 2022
The PlayStation maker can no longer shy away from the idea of exclusivity for Xbox, apparently call of duty That could put its gaming platform in jeopardy. Microsoft wants to portray Sony as the industry’s bad student: in a strong position but refusing to become a form of Netflix for video games. Sony will defiantly oppose the takeover to protect its position.
As has been made public several times, Microsoft has offered the same deal to Sony.
Microsoft offered Sony a similar deal, but they declined. @XboxP3 “From where we’re sitting, it’s clear that they’re spending more time with regulators than they are with us to get this deal done,” he said in an interview.
-Dina Bass (@dinabass) December 7, 2022
In an interview with Bloomberg, Phil Spencer goes even further without mincing words about PlayStation.
It’s clear from our perspective that they’re spending more time with regulators than trying to get this deal done.
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