Microsoft has signed an agreement with Nintendo with which they undertake to carry the franchise of Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles the same day and with the same content as Xbox, which spans the next 10 years. This was announced by the president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, in a statement that hints at the arrival of more Xbox games on Nintendo consoles.
In early December Microsoft announced that it had signed an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to their consoles for the next 10 years, in addition to offering a similar agreement to Valve, committing to bring Call of Duty to Steam at the same time and with the same content as Xbox. Microsoft’s new deal with Nintendo is the same one the company offered Valve at the time.
A few hours ago Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, announced that they signed an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to their consoles for the next 10 years, launching them the same day they arrive on Xbox and with the same content. Smith also says that “this is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox and Activision games like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”, Which could indicate that other Xbox games would also reach Nintendo consoles.
Although Microsoft offered this deal to Valve, Gabe Newell said at the time that he refused to sign it because he trusts the intentions of Phil Spencer and Xbox, as the company has been on Steam for a long time and takes the proposed deal as a sign. that they are happy with the reception their games have received. “We do not believe in requiring any partner to have an agreement that obliges them to release games on SteamNewell explained.
When the original agreement between Microsoft and Nintendo was announced in December last year, Sony said it was a misleading deal given that the Nintendo Switch can’t run Call of Duty, as well as claiming that Nintendo’s audience is younger and doesn’t have interest in the franchise. The Nintendo Switch player age distribution graph shared by Nintendo demonstrates that the second point is not true, while the first point can be countered with the cloud.
In recent years Microsoft has improved its cloud gaming service included with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, so they have a lot of experience with this technology. Other publishers have released games on Nintendo Switch with cloud versions, such as Resident Evil Remakes, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Kingdom Hearts collections, so Microsoft could follow a similar path with Call of Duty.
At the moment it only remains to wait for Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard to be approved, because in the event that the agreement is not reached, it would be annulled and it would be ABK’s decision to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles.
