DIRK WAEM via Getty Images
Microsoft signs a 10-year deal with NVIDIA, bringing Xbox games to the GeForce Now streaming service. Microsoft President Brad Smith made the announcement as he joined Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, Activision Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick and other gaming industry executives to participate in the EU public hearing on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Smith said that if Microsoft successfully acquires Activision Blizzard, Activision Blizzard’s “Decisive Moment” series, which was withdrawn from GeForce Now in 2020, will return to GeForce Now. This is not the only announcement Microsoft made related to Activision Blizzard in the past two days. Just earlier, Microsoft also announced the signing of a ten-year contract with Nintendo, and also promised to bring the “Decisive Moment” series to the Nintendo platform.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division, said in a statement that Xbox promises to give players more choices and expand more ways to play. In addition to bringing more games to NVIDIA’s platform, the partnership with NVIDIA also gives developers more options for streaming games.
The way the GeForce Now service works is that players must first purchase games on Xbox PC, Steam or Epic Games, and it only provides virtual hosting services, so there is actually little conflict with the interests of each company. It’s unclear when Xbox games will be streamed through GeForce Now, but NVIDIA says it will “immediately begin work with Microsoft on integrating Xbox PC games with GeForce Now.”
These recent big moves by Microsoft are all to reassure the relevant departments of various countries, saying that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard does not monopolize the market. After Microsoft starts cooperation with NVIDIA, Activision Blizzard’s games will not only be streamed on the Xbox Cloud Gaming platform, and Microsoft will not use Activision Blizzard’s games to further expand the market share of its own game services. However, in addition to the European Union, the UK’s Competition and Markets Agency and the US’s FTC both have opinions on the case. It seems hard to say whether Microsoft can finally get Activision Blizzard into its pocket.
