- Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nintendo Co, Ltd (OTC:NTDOF) (OTC:NTDOY) forged a ten-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms.
- The financial terms of the agreement remained undisclosed.
- Under the deal, Call of Duty will be released to Nintendo players the same day and with the same features as its Xbox version.
- Simultaneously Microsoft President Brad Smith prepared to convince EU antitrust regulators in a closed hearing that the $69 billion Activision Blizzard, Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) deal will boost competition.
- Related: Call Of Duty Won't Be Xbox Exclusive 'As Long As There's A PlayStation To Ship To'
- The Activision Blizzard deal also faced hurdles from several agencies based on competition concerns. The availability of franchises such as Call of Duty on other consoles and the deal tenure raised significant concerns.
- The deal also faced opposition from Sony Group Corp (NYSE: SONY), Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google, and Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) who would attend the hearing.
- While Activision Blizzard owns a robust library of franchises like Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, the immediate question on gamers' minds was if the Call of Duty franchise would remain available for multiple consoles and not just the Xbox, owned by Microsoft.
- Call of Duty is an essential franchise to Activision Blizzard and likely a big reason for the purchase by Microsoft.
- Price Action: MSFT shares traded lower by 2.28% at $252.15 on the last check Tuesday.
- Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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