Microsoft announces a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox games to the Boosteroid cloud service

Microsoft announced another 10-year partnership with a third party as it continues to push for acquisitions Activision Blizzard over the finish line.

The company concluded a 10-year agreement with Busteroid“the largest global independent provider of cloud games”.

According to Microsoft, the agreement will be seen Xbox computer games is coming to Boosteroid, though it’s not confirmed when that will happen.

Importantly, Microsoft also says that if its acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through, the partnership will also see Activision Blizzard titles, including Call of Duty, also added to Boosteroid.

Microsoft used the statement to reiterate its claim that this deal and other partnerships already announced will bring Call Duty to “more than 150 million additional players.”

This claim relates to Microsoft’s obligations bring the blockbuster shooter series to the Nintendo Switch almost 125 million installed bases and 25 million GeForce Now users.

The claim has been questioned by some who point out that many Switch GeForce Now owners and subscribers will already have access to Xbox, Gaming console or gaming PC and therefore already have access to Call of Duty.

Cloud gaming service Boosteroid recently surpassed 4 million users worldwide and currently serves players in the US, UK and other EU countries.

The announcement is the latest step in Microsoft’s campaign to demonstrate its commitment to making Activision Blizzard games available on multiple systems and services if the proposed acquisition goes through.

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1635629872054931456

The company tried to convince anti-competitive authorities such as the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it would not release Activision Blizzard games (especially Call of Duty) for Xbox. exclusives if the deal is approved.

Last month, the CMA said it had made preliminary findings that Microsoft Activision case may reduce competition and “result in higher prices, less choice or less innovation” for players.

It has been suggested that the easiest way to prevent this would be to either block the deal entirely or do a partial divestment of Activision Blizzard, with parts of the business such as Call of Duty being sold off and taken out of the equation.

However, he also said he would consider behavioral remedies, such as Microsoft’s commitment to make Call of Duty available on other platforms after the merger.

In response to these findings, Sony argued that behavioral remedies would not be sufficient to address the regulator’s concern because there are “numerous ways in which Microsoft can deny or impair access (which) would be extremely difficult to monitor and control.”

One of the ways to get around Microsoft’s obligations can be release of Call of Duty games with glitches for PlayStationwas asserted

Microsoft recently said yes offered Sony a 10-year contract that is legally binding make every new Call of Duty game available on PlayStation the same day it’s on Xbox – with full content and function ratio.

In its response to the CMA’s findings, Microsoft confirmed that it had also offered Sony the option has listed upcoming Call of Duty games on its PlayStation Plus subscription service on the first day, although its competitor argued that the offer could be subject to prohibitive licensing costs, which would force it to raise its prices.

The company also said it did willing to pay a third-party agency monitor compliance with any agreed behavioral measures.