Microsoft Announces 10-Year Deal with ‘Cloud Gaming Provider’ Ubitus

Microsoft has signed yet another 10-year deal with Ubitus, a Taiwan-based cloud gaming solution company. This deal once again places focus on Call of Duty and other PC games from Xbox, pending the company’s successful acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Today, Xbox head Phil Spencer announced that Microsoft and Ubitus have penned a deal for Xbox PC games and other Activision Blizzard titles. “Our commitment is to give more players more choice,” Spencer says in a tweet. This deal will see Ubitus’ platform have access to Call of Duty across the next 10 years as well as other unverified Xbox titles.

Ubitus is a relatively unknown company in the gaming space. It’s largely focused on cloud-based gaming and has been the backbone of bringing many AAA games to Nintendo Switch via the cloud. Most recently, Ubitus has been responsible for bringing Remedy Entertainment’s Control to Nintendo Switch. Additionally, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Resident Evil 7 both use Ubitus’ cloud gaming solutions.

In an effort to quell the concerns of regulators over the planned acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has been securing many deals. Last month, Microsoft signed similar deals with Nintendo and NVIDIA. Once again, following a successful acquisition, Microsoft is committed to delivering parity for Call of Duty and other titles on those platforms. This week, Microsoft also signed another deal with Boosteroid. The Ukraine-based company is the “largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world,” with over four million global users.

Microsoft’s planned $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard has faced a lot of scrutiny from regulators and PlayStation as well. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been pushing back on the deal, with many concerns over anti-trust violations. Last month, the CMA went as far as to suggest Microsoft splinter Call of Duty from the acquisition as the deal could “result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers”.

The CMA and European Commission have yet to make a decision on whether they’ll approve the acquisition. The latter has a deadline set for April 25th, 2023. The CMA, on the other hand, has until April 26th. It appears as though Microsoft is doing all it can to persuade regulators that the deal won’t impact the availability and accessibility of marquee titles like Call of Duty. As of 2022, Call of Duty crossed $30 billion in revenue.

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