In an attempt to secure UK approval for its $68.7 billion deal with Activision Blizzard as part of its new strategy, Microsoft will sell cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft.
The transfer of the rights includes cloud gaming for current and upcoming Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft.
It is designed to appease UK regulators who have expressed concern about the impact Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion deal with have on the competition in the industry. The restructured agreement has spurred an investigation that could potentially last into mid-October.
“To address the concerns about the impact of the proposed acquisition on cloud game streaming raised by the UK Competition and Markets Authority, we are restructuring the transaction to acquire a narrower set of rights…This includes executing an agreement effective at the closing of our merger that transfers the cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a leading global game publisher. The rights will be in perpetuity.”
Brad Smith, Microsoft president
This restructured deal means that in the event that Microsoft closes on its desired acquisition, it will relinquish its ability to release games from Activision Blizzard exclusively on its Xbox Cloud Gaming platform. It also extends to the licensing terms present on rival services. Rather, Ubisoft will control all streaming rights to games from Activision Blizzard outside of the EU. It will then license titles back to Microsoft to include in Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Ubisoft will also be adding Activision Blizzard games to the Ubisoft+ Multi Access Subscription, which is currently available across PC, Xbox PlayStation, and Amazon Luna.
In April, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked Microsoft’s deal in April. citing cloud gaming concerns prior to agreeing to negotiations following the situation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month.
Now, the CMA has signaled a new phase of investigation, thanks to the restructured deal of Microsoft. It has imposed a final order, prohibiting the original deal worldwide while investigating this new restructuring of the acquisition.