In an announcement that went out at 11pm PST yesterday evening, Microsoft confirmed it has reached an official deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the platform. Make no mistake, this is Microsoft following through on a promise to bring the game to Nintendo if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through. Which is all part of the company’s plans to help convince US and European regulators to approve the acquisition. The acquisition itself was agreed upon by both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard back in 2022.
The approval is a key factor here. And it’s important to keep that detail in mind. Because if the acquisition is not approved, then this agreement with Nintendo is likely not going to happen either. But, if the deal does go through, then Nintendo Switch owners are in for a treat.
For starters, Microsoft is committed to ensuring Call of Duty is launched on Nintendo the same day as Xbox. With full feature and content parity mind you. Meaning those who played on Nintendo would get the same experience as those who play on Xbox and PlayStation. The agreement with Nintendo was shared by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President and Vice-Chair. Smith also seems to suggest more to the partnership.
Other Xbox games besides Call of Duty could land on Nintendo consoles
While Call of Duty is the only game mentioned by name, it seems Microsoft has a plan to bring over other games, too. In Smith’s announcement tweet, he says Microsoft has now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers.
The terminology, “Xbox games” suggests that this wouldn’t just be Call of Duty. But also other Xbox game franchises. Those could be, just about anything really. From Fallout to Doom to Halo. Of course, the agreement is still just that for now. An agreement. As it will take time and effort to complete development on porting Xbox games over to Nintendo’s ecosystem.
Either way, this is really only a win for those who play on Nintendo consoles. As they’ll have more games to choose from.
We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms. pic.twitter.com/JmO0hzw1BO
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) February 21, 2023
2023-02-22 15:18:16