Microsoft is planning on selling or rather, transferring the cloud gaming rights of Activision Blizzard games over French video game studio and publisher, Ubisoft. The company is hoping that in doing so, it will appease, to some extent, the bloodlust of regulators in the UK.
It’s a big move for Microsoft, one that it hopes will allow its US$68.7 billion (~RM319.7 billion) acquisition plan to alleviate the “concerns” of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). At the time of writing, the UK government body has opened a new investigation over the newly restructured deal, and investigations could last until the middle of October this year.
“To address the concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a narrower set of rights,” Brad Smith, President at Microsoft says. “This includes executing an agreement effective at the closing of our merger that transfers the cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher. The rights will be in perpetuity.”
As it stands, the UK CMA is currently the only regulatory body that is still standing its ground against the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal. Over in the EU, the collective’s lawmakers have already given the green light to the deal, while over in the US, a judge dismissed the injunction from the country’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a move that effectively greenlit the acquisition.
The Ubisoft+ lineup is expanding!
We're excited to announce a new agreement that will bring Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft+ via streaming upon the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard!
We’ll also be licensing the games to a range of cloud streaming… pic.twitter.com/sZTnEFJedC
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) August 22, 2023
“Ubisoft will compensate Microsoft for the cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard’s games through a one-off payment and through a market-based wholesale pricing mechanism, including an option that supports pricing based on usage. It will also give Ubisoft the opportunity to offer Activision Blizzard’s games to cloud gaming services running non-Windows operating systems.” Smith also said.
Needless to say, Ubisoft was clearly ecstatic with Microsoft’s decision to transfer the streaming rights for Activision Blizzard to it, as evidenced by its post on Twitter. In addition to the new streaming rights, the French studio says that it will add Activision Blizzard game to its Plus Multi Access subscription.
