Newsletter
Microsoft has just laid its new proposed deal for acquiring Activision Blizzard to the CMA, and it involves unloading the streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games.
One of the initial holdouts for the CMA when it originally blocked the deal was Microsoft’s dominance in the cloud gaming space. And that by acquiring Activision Blizzard, it would lock popular franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo and others behind the Xbox Game Pass paywall. To appease the CMA, Microsoft has agreed to sell off the rights to stream Activision Blizzard games. This way it doesn’t control where the games are accessible and cannot limit them to its own platform.
The new deal, which the CMA still has to consider and approve, would see the streaming rights sold off to Ubisoft. Who would then put Activision Blizzard games on its Ubisoft+ service, which is accessible across multiple platforms, including PlayStation.
Ubisoft can license the Activision Blizzard streaming rights to Microsoft
Under this new deal, it would appear that everyone essentially wins. The CMA presumably would be happier with this contract than it was the last proposal. As it should loosen the grip on cloud gaming that Microsoft is perceived to have should the deal go through. But with Ubisoft having the rights to Activision and Blizzard’s games, it can then disperse them as it sees fit. While it would no doubt add those games to Ubisoft+ on consoles like PS5, Microsoft could still add them to Game Pass.
If Ubisoft chose to license those rights to Microsoft for Game Pass specifically. The terms of the new deal also state that Ubisoft would own the rights for 15 years after the deal closes. And in perpetuity. All of that said, the deal is not yet approved. The CMA will now look at the new deal and make its decision by October 18. Which is the new final date for approval. It will also be opening a new phase of investigation.
The Ubisoft+ lineup is expanding!
We’re excited to announce a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft+ via streaming upon the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard!
We’ll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming… pic.twitter.com/sZTnEFJedC
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) August 22, 2023