Back in January of this year, Microsoft tried to acquire ABK for $68.7 billion, and as of today, they announced that Ubisoft will get cloud streaming rights for their Activision Blizzard games.
Microsoft is still trying to acquire Activision Blizzard, and now an exciting new deal arose out of this endeavor. Many more players will get access to ABK games through a new partnership between Microsoft and Ubisoft!
Blizzard Games Will Be Available On Ubisoft+: Here Is The Deal
With Ubisoft+, you get a subscription service that gives you access to a large library of games consisting of over 100 titles from franchises like Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs and Far Cry. With this new deal, it looks you will be able to play games like Call of Duty and Diablo with Ubisoft+, and most likely get some additional perks in games like Overwatch. The duration of the agreement will be 15 years and the deal is non-exclusive.
The partnership will start as soon as Microsoft officially acquires Activision Blizzard and will include all games currently available plus all games that will be made in the upcoming 15 years. Ubisoft will get the rights to license the games to cloud gaming companies, service providers, and console makers.
You will be able to play on multiple platforms including PC, Xbox consoles and Amazon Luna, and with Ubisoft Classic also on the PlayStation.
What Microsoft (Does Not) Get Out Of This
Microsoft almost succeeded in acquiring Activision Blizzard, but needed the approval of the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK to complete the deal, after it getting greenlit by officials in Europe and the US. They can't risk loosing access to gamers in the UK, since that would leave a lot of money on the table and disappoint fans of big franchises like CoD, Candy Crush and Diablo.
The next step in the UK for Activision Blizzard's deal with Microsoft:Our CEO just sent this email to all employees... pic.twitter.com/kqtD07bMwK
— Lulu Cheng Meservey (@lulumeservey) August 22, 2023
The problem the CMA had with this Merger was that it could result in lesser competitors in cloud gaming, raising Microsoft up into a monopoly position. By giving rights to Ubisoft and, in an indirect instance through the above-mentioned Ubisoft Classic, also to their biggest competitor Sony, Microsoft wants to show authorities that they do not wish to be the sole exclusive provider of ABK games. They also most likely tried to prove this with their deal with Nintendo or, again, through their big 10-year-deal with Sony granting them rights for CoD.
In the official answer statement posted by the CMA, the authority says, quote:
Given that cloud gaming is a nascent, dynamic, and rapidly growing market, we do not consider that developments concerning a limited number of current rivals address the fundamental concern about the risk of foreclosure of other current and future rivals in the market more generally, including those with innovative and new business models.
Doesn't sound too great for Microsoft. The CMA says that they find the changes made to be insufficient to change their original judgement and will continue with soon-taken action to effect the prohibition of the Merger:
We find that considering all of the developments submitted by Microsoft cumulatively does not change the assessment.
Microsoft and Activison Blizzard still have time until October 18, 2023, to give an official answer back to the CMA. This trial will most likely go on for a while.
