Microsoft makes a 10-year deal with Nintendo

Last week, we published a series of articles exploring the complexities of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Now, there’s a new deal to discuss. While regulatory bodies determine whether Microsoft should be allowed to acquire Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft has struck up a deal with Nintendo that sees the Wii manufacturer in an enviable spot. 

The deal that Microsoft has made entitles Nintendo to host Call of Duty on its Switch platform for 10 years. In our exploration into whether or not there’s a verifiable problem with the acquisition, we discussed that Microsoft would most likely add value to Activision-Blizzard’s titles by bringing them to other platforms. The multi-billion dollar deal isn’t even final yet, and Microsoft is already striking deals to bring Call of Duty to an even wider audience. This is the same thing that the company did when it acquired Mojang and Minecraft. 

It’s incredible that Microsoft plans for players to be able to enjoy Call of Duty from a Nintendo Switch, but the logistics are a little bit questionable. The latest Call of Duty releases are far too massive in size to be compatible with Switch. Call of Duty cannot be a straight port from console to Switch.

However, Microsoft is well poised to deliver the Call of Duty dream to a more varied selection of platforms. This is exactly where innovations like Microsoft’s Cloud Gaming come in handy. Cloud gaming doesn’t rely as heavily on users’ hardware, which means that games could theoretically be played on anything from an early Android mobile device to an i5 laptop. 

If you’d like to catch up on the drama surrounding the Microsoft-Activision merger, check out our article on what the merger means for gamers.