Microsoft has committed to bringing its games, include Call of Duty and other Activision titles, to Nvidia's GeForce Now platform if the Activision purchase is approved by regulators. The move marks yet another significant step in affirming Microsoft's intentions to keep major titles on multiple platforms, a concern that's been holding back the $70 billion acquisition deal announced over a year ago.

This commitment feels particularly important considering that Nvidia GeForce Now is one of the biggest competitors to Microsoft's own cloud gaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming (part of Game Pass Ultimate). Of course, there are some big differences between how GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate operate. GeForce Now is a subscription service, yes, but it doesn't include access to any games. You still have to buy the games you play individually on each platform, so to Microsoft, it probably doesn't make a huge difference for these games to be available there, as it's the equivalent of selling any other PC game. If you want access to all the Xbox (and Activision) games more easily, Game Pass Ultimate would be still the easier solution.

And yes, that also means only Microsoft's PC games will be coming to Nvidia GeForce Now, though that hardly makes a huge difference. The majority of titles published by Xbox Game Studios release on both Xbox and PC simultaneously nowadays, so unless you're looking for some older console titles, you won't be missing out on much.

This announcement was made during a hearing with the European Commission in Brussels, as Microsoft tries to sway regulators in favor of approving its Activision buyout. The company seems to have a big chunk of the industry on its side, with Nvidia also fully supporting the deal after this announcement.

Additionally, earlier today, Microsoft and Nintendo signed a deal to guarantee that Nintendo hardware will get access to Call of Duty games day-and-date with the Xbox release, complete with feature parity. That's also major news considering it's been many years since the last release of a Call of Duty on a Nintendo platform, with even the Switch being left out since its 2017 launch.

The biggest opposition to the deal is Sony, the company behind the PlayStation consoles. While Microsoft has committed to bringing its games to PlayStation in a similar fashion to Nintendo, Sony has seemingly refused to take it and has been persistent that the acquisition would be bad for competition, potentially causing other consoles to miss out on huge releases such as the aforementioned Call of Duty. During the hearing in Brussels, Microsoft highlighted how Sony dominates the European market compared to Xbox, while also affirming its belief in cross-platform releases and ensuring that its experiences work just as well on any platform they appear on.

Whether today's commitments are enough to win over European regulators and get the deal approved remains to be seen, but it's clear that Microsoft is doing everything it can to go through with its purchase.

Source: Microsoft

Via: Windows Central