Activision Blizzard games are officially coming to Ubisoft+. The announcement came early Tuesday morning when Ubisoft announced an agreement between it and Microsoft regarding it’s ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to The Verge, this agreement prohibits Microsoft from exclusively releasing Activision Blizzard on Xbox Cloud Gaming. Instead, Ubisoft will control the cloud gaming rights to current and future Activision Blizzard games for 15 years once the acquisition is finalized.
Activision Blizzard games will still be released on Xbox Cloud Gaming. According to Microsoft president Brad Smith, the agreement was to address the concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the acquisition’s potential negative impact on the cloud gaming market.
“…Ubisoft will compensate Microsoft for the cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard’s games through a one-off payment and through a market-based wholesale pricing mechanism, including an option that supports pricing based on usage,” said Smith. “It will also give Ubisoft the opportunity to offer Activision Blizzard’s games to cloud gaming services running non-Windows operating systems.”
Chris Early, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development of Ubisoft, showed his excitement at the agreement in a statement alongside the announcement.
“We’re dedicated to delivering amazing experiences to our players wherever they choose to play,” wrote Early. “Over the past 15 years we’ve built and honed our online services and distribution ecosystem into one of the most complete in the industry. Today’s deal gives players even more opportunities to access and enjoy some of the biggest brands in gaming.”
Microsoft has made similar agreements in the past year since the announcement of its Activision Blizzard acquisition including Boosteroid, Ubitus, and others. Now, Ubisoft+ Multi Access subscribers players will soon be able to play and stream Activision Blizzard games on PC, Xbox consoles and Amazon Luna, and on the PlayStation platform through Ubisoft+ Classics.
More information on when Activision Blizzard titles will be added to Ubisoft+ will be revealed at a later date. Head over to the official Ubisoft news page and social media channels for future updates.