As the Activision Blizzard merger slowly draws to a close, Nintendo has agreed toward a 10-year-long deal to bring Call of Duty to their consoles. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced the news on Tuesday night ahead of the Federal Trade Commission meeting today. Following the announcement, Spencer took to Twitter to spread the news with a series of tweets confirming Nintendo acceptance alongside offering to continue Call of Duty’s time on Valve’s Steam. The popular shooter has not been on Nintendo’s systems since Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013.
This comes after news of Microsoft offering Sony a similar deal. Sony has been one of the loudest opponents of the Activision Blizzard acquisition and actively fighting against its approval. Microsoft has pushed back on the rival companies’ concerns regarding monopolizing the lucrative franchises that come with the deal. Many believe that Nintendo’s acceptance will increase pressure on Sony to accept Microsoft’s deal.
Microsoft maintains that the 10-year deal will not prevent Call of Duty games from being released on other consoles once it’s done. Microsoft president Brad Smith echoed the company’s willingness to cooperate with Sony following Spencer’s tweet stating that they’d “…be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for Playstation as well.”
Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell echoes Microsoft’s words in a statement with Kotaku, even calling the deal “unnecessary.”
“Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment,” said Newell. “but it wasn’t necessary for us because a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be.”
While Microsoft continues its push towards the merger’s completion, the investigations by domestic and foreign governments show no sign of slowing down.