Editor’s Note: The statement included in the legal document does not contain the word “all,” but does insinuate other Activision games apart from Call of Duty for the Switch. This is due to the inclusion of the following words, “…..to obtain Activision content post-merger, ‘including Call of Duty.'” Including here could mean one out of two things—either it’s only COD that’s part of the Microsoft-Nintendo deal or that Microsoft has planned more content for Nintendo Switch alongside Call of Duty.
Story Highlights
- Microsoft’s 10-year deal with Nintendo includes Call of Duty and may include other Activision content as well after the merger closes. The tidbit was stated in the documents published by the US District Court.
- The deal, therefore, can be quite different from Sony, which will only receive Call of Duty content for the next ten years. Sony was also offered the same deal as Nintendo back in January 2022, but it declined it.
- Nintendo may get many Activision games after the merger closes, including titles like Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and the like on the Switch and the subsequent consoles.
- Microsoft recently claimed it is committed to bringing COD titles on an in-development Switch model. It seemed to confirm the existence of multiple consoles in development.
Earlier this year, Microsoft and Nintendo closed a deal to bring Call of Duty entries on the Switch and the next consoles after the merger eventually locks. It seems like there is much more to the contract than most gamers initially thought. The industry giant might also be planning to bring other Activision Blizzard entries on the Nintendo consoles, which is far different than the deal that Sony signed some time ago to keep COD titles on the platform.
Microsoft stated that it is contractually obliged to release future Activision Blizzard titles on the Nintendo platforms. The conglomerate reiterated its contract with Nintendo in the recently published documents by the US District Court from the trials against the Federal Trade Commission. As per the aforesaid deal between the companies, Nintendo could receive a wide variety of Activision Blizzard content in the future, unlike Sony.
Nintendo has a contractual right to obtain Activision content post-merger, including Call of Duty,” as mentioned in the pages 74 and 120.
It has been widely believed in the past that Nintendo would only get Call of Duty entries in the future like Sony, but the contract between the two companies goes much deeper than that. In fact, Sony was offered the same proposal back in January 2022 for all the Activision Blizzard content, but the deal did not proceed.
Additionally, Microsoft only recently claimed it is committed to bringing Call of Duty games on an in-development Switch model, hitting two birds with one stone. The conglomerate also said that Nintendo could release the Switch successor as early as next year. As per the vague wording in the official documents, there seem to be multiple Nintendo consoles in the brewer, and Microsoft is bringing COD to at least two of them.
Xbox has also contractually agreed to provide a version of Call of Duty to Nintendo for its Switch console and its upcoming console upgrade.”
In the FTC trial, Nintendo was not considered to be an equal competitor to Sony and Microsoft, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley and Phil Spencer highly disagreed with the notion. An assortment of Activision titles will further diminish the argument because of more third-party content on the platform.
It seems like Nintendo fans could be eating well for the next ten years. Popular Activision titles like Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and the sort, including future content, could come out on Nintendo Switch or the subsequent consoles in the future.
Similar Reads: Sony May Have Discarded PlayStation COD Exclusive Benefits For The Deal With Microsoft.
Thanks! Do share your feedback with us. ⚡
How can we make this post better? Your help would be appreciated. ✍
Join Our Community