Microsoft has reached an agreement with Nintendo according to which the game Call of Duty will be available on Nintendo consoles if the acquisition of Activision Blizzard is completed.
It’s a deal of a similar length that Microsoft offered Sony, and the Xbox console maker also committed to offering new versions of Call of Duty on Steam at the same time they are available for Xbox.
The deal represents clear pressure on Sony to accept a similar offer, and it finds itself in that position just days after Microsoft president Brad Smith said Sony had emerged as “the loudest opponent” to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision for $68.7 billion and that the company was “as excited about it as Blockbuster was about the rise of Netflix.”
Microsoft confirmed earlier this week that it has offered Sony a ten-year deal to keep new Call of Duty games available on PlayStation the same day the game arrives on Xbox. Meanwhile, regulators are scrutinizing Microsoft’s plan to buy Activision Blizzard.
“Whenever Sony is ready to talk, we’ll be happy to do a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well,” Smith said via Twitter.
Microsoft Gaming director Phil Spencer confirmed the deal with Nintendo and Valve.
Sony didn’t respond to Microsoft’s latest offer, and the length of the deal between the two companies doesn’t mean the game will suddenly disappear from PlayStation after ten years.
“It’s not about us pulling the plug on PlayStation, but there’s no permanent contract,” Spencer was clear.
