Microsoft has struck a 10-year deal with NVIDIA to bring Xbox games to its GeForce Now streaming service. The president of the company, Brad Smith, made the announcement at a press conference in Brussels, where he, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan, the head of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick and other prominent figures were present. at a European Commission hearing on Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Smith said that, if the deal goes through, Activision Blizzard games like the Call of Duty series will also be available on GeForce Now. The publisher pulled its titles from the cloud gaming service in 2020. Smith’s GeForce Now announcement came hours after he confirmed that Microsoft would bring Xbox games to Nintendo platforms like the Switch under a 10 year deal – and Activision Blizzard titles when the acquisition closes. . NVIDIA is now supporting the Activision Blizzard deal, Smith said.
“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a statement. “This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We’re excited to offer players more ways to play the games they love.
Users must purchase copies of games from the Xbox PC, Steam or Epic Games stores to play them on GeForce Now. It’s unclear when Xbox games will be available to stream through the service, which has more than 25 million users. However, NVIDIA said it and Microsoft will “immediately begin work to integrate Xbox PC games with GeForce Now.”
The deal will give gamers another way to stream Microsoft games from the cloud almost anywhere they have a strong internet connection. Currently, Xbox Cloud Gaming (which requires a Game Pass Ultimate subscription) is the main way to do that. The deal with NVIDIA is an attempt by Microsoft to solve the concerns of regulators about the acquisition of Activision by showing that Xbox Cloud Gaming is not the only exclusive way to stream its games.
Earlier this month, the UK competition regulator said the proposed $68.7 billion takeover of Activision could result in a “significant reduction in competition in gaming consoles” and “harm UK gamers. ” The Competition and Markets Authority found that Microsoft has a 60-70 percent share of the cloud gaming market and that, if the deal goes through, it will “strengthen this strong position.” In December, the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block the merger.
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