Microsoft said on Friday it signed a 10-year deal with Nware to bring Xbox and Activision Blizzard games to the Spanish cloud-gaming platform, days after Britain blocked its $69 billion buyout of the Call of Duty maker.
The agreement marks the latest effort by Microsoft to ease
fears its purchase of Activision would hinder competition in cloud gaming,
which was the reason cited by the Competition and Markets Authority to veto the
biggest deal in gaming.
"While it's still early for the emerging cloud segment
in gaming, this new partnership combined with our other recent commitments will
make more popular games available on more cloud game streaming services than
they are today," Microsoft President Brad Smith said.
The Xbox console maker, which plans to appeal CMA's
decision, has signed similar deals with the owners of streaming platforms
including Valve, Nvidia and Boosteroid.
It had also offered Sony — a vocal opponent of the deal — a
10-year Call of Duty license, in line with an agreement to bring the
multi-billion dollar franchise to Nintendo's Switch.
In its decision on Wednesday, the CMA said Microsoft had an
estimated 60 percent - 70 percent of global cloud gaming services as well as
competitive advantages including owning Xbox, PC operating system Windows and
cloud provider Azure.
The Activision deal is the biggest involving technology
companies the regulator has blocked. Europe will decide on the deal by May 22.
The US Federal Trade Commission is also seeking to block it.
Microsoft shares were slightly lower in US premarket
trading, while those of Activision ticked up 0.2 percent. © Reuters
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