If the acquisition of Activision is authorized by authorities, Microsoft will add its games, including Call of Duty and other Activision titles, to Nvidia’s GeForce Now platform. This is a huge step forward in addressing the biggest worry that has delayed Microsoft’s $70 billion purchase agreement revealed over a year ago: their commitment to maintaining cross-platform support for their most popular games.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
In light of Nvidia GeForce Now’s status as a major rival to Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft’s dedication to the cloud gaming market is especially welcome. GeForce Now & Xbox Game Pass Ultimate work quite differently. In spite of the fact that GeForce Now is a subscription service, it does not provide users with access to any titles. For Microsoft, having these games accessible on their platform is likely not a great deal, since it is the same as selling any other PC game as you still have to buy the games you play separately on each device. Game Pass Ultimate is still the simpler option if you want access to all Xbox titles.
Of course, this also implies that Nvidia GeForce Now will only support Microsoft’s PC games, but this is hardly a dealbreaker. You won’t be missing out on anything unless you’re specifically seeking older platform games since the vast majority of titles released by Microsoft Game Studios now release on both Xbox and PC at the same time.
Microsoft made the statement at a Brussels session with the European Commission, where the company is attempting to persuade officials to green light its acquisition of Activision. With this declaration, the firm seems to have the backing of a sizable portion of the industry.
In addition, Microsoft and Nintendo have just reached a pact that would ensure Nintendo systems can play Call of Duty titles on the same day as the Xbox release, with the same set of features. That’s huge, especially given Nintendo hasn’t released a Call of Duty game in a long time, and the Switch hasn’t even had one since it came out in 2017.
