Call of Unity – The Call of Duty Agreement
Back in December, we discussed how the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to prevent them from acquiring Activision Blizzard for $75 billion. This is because they believed Microsoft would violate antitrust laws and harm competition in the video game industry, and there was good reason to believe that. Microsoft would then have control over all Activision games, and therefore could make them exclusive to the XBOX in order to stifle competition.
In response to this, Microsoft signed pacts with Nintendo and Nvidia on Tuesday giving both companies the rights to the “Call of Duty” franchise for the next decade. This move should help ease regulators and strengthen the ties between the corporations, and Vice Chairman Brad Smith said that their commitment with the companies is now solidified after talks since last year in order to make Activision games accessible. What’s most unique about this is the pact with Nvidia, with Activision games now being available on Nvidia’s GeForce Now, a cloud streaming service for electronics. GeForce Now is a rather new product, and the Vice President in charge of the product says that Microsoft’s deal will help it get going. The new deal has increased hopes on both ends that the deal will go through, but there are still hurdles to clear past the FTC. The European Commission is also discussing with Microsoft on whether to allow the deal, that decision coming sometime before April 11th. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has also set a deadline around that date while asking Microsoft and Activision to ease their concerns even further. Microsoft has their work set out for them if they want to complete one of the largest acquisitions in history.
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I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.