Will we still have to buy an Xbox console to play Xbox games?
The question has the merit of being asked after the announcement this morning of a large-scale partnership between Microsoft and Nintendo.
In a press release, the Redmond firm has just announced that it has negotiated and signed a legal agreement in order to bring the Call of Duty license to Nintendo players.
- Call of Duty online in sight, but Xbox games on Nintendo console
- An ad at the time of a meeting with European regulators
Call of Duty online in sight, but Xbox games on Nintendo console
The manufacturer specifies that this will be the same day as on Xbox with the same advantages and the same content in order to take advantage of the Call of Duty experience as an Xbox and PlayStation player.
But Microsoft goes further.
On Twitter, Brad Smith, the president of the company, also announces that this contract, which must last over at least ten years, is only the beginning, and that it is expected that the Xbox games
And Activision arrive with more players on more platforms.
In other words, it seems that we are at a turning point in the industry that will see Xbox exclusives land on competing consoles.
An ad at the time of a meeting with European regulators
If all of this is still vague enough, this agreement is a means for Microsoft to assert its commitments with respect to current surveys concerning the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
The manufacturer is indeed accused by the competition authorities and by Sony of wanting to stifle the market by making the flagship titles exclusive like Call of Duty that Xbox firmly denies.
The Japanese firm behind the PlayStation also refused to sign the agreement which has just been carried out with Nintendo.
Note that this formalization is far from a coincidence since it coincides with a meeting between Microsoft, the regulators of the European Union, Jim Ryan of PlayStation, Bobby Kick of Activision-Blizzard, Nvidia and Google.