Microsoft Corp has agreed a 10-year rights deal with Nintendo for the Call of Duty franchise should its $69bln buy-out of Activision Blizzard be approved by regulators in the US and elsewhere.
The tech giant will also make the first-person shooter franchise available on Valve’s steam platform, the 10-year deal was also offered to Sony, but it rejected the deal.
The purchase of Activision Blizzard, which also makes franchises like Candy Crush and World of Warcraft, has come under scrutiny by the UK’s CMA and US FTC as rivals such as Sony fear the deal will lead to a monopoly for the Washington-based organisation.
CMA sees “Call of Duty as being important and capable of making a material difference to the success of rivals' gaming platforms", following the regulators initial investigation conclusion in September.
Initially, Microsoft refused to offer concessions to CMA, which moved into a second phase of investigation, yet this latest shift might put the buyer in the regulator’s good books.
A recent switch in stance by an unnamed FTC board member means approval is ‘70% likely’ revealed William Kovacic, former FTC chairman.
Current FTC chairwoman Lina Khan now faces a 2-2 split to the four-member panel, a split decision would likely put her authority into jeopardy.
“Lina would probably not put things in a position for that to take place, so instead of having that vote she would make the motion to approve the settlement” Kovacic said .. where?.
Microsoft hope to finalise the deal by mid-2023 but has to negotiate 16 regulatory bodies across the world with only Brazil and Saudi Arabia approving the deal so far.
The deal follows Microsoft’s $7.5bln purchase of ZeniMax Media in 2020, which owns the popular game studio Bethesda.
Microsoft’s share price was $245.12, down 2% today.