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Now that it has a new partnership with Microsoft, NVIDIA no longer has any objections to Xbox's merger with Activision Blizzard.

Justin Carter, Contributing Editor

February 21, 2023

1 Min Read
Promo art for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, featuring the game's main soldiers.

Microsoft and NVIDIA have come together for a new partnership. During its appeal to the European Commission to acquire Activision Blizzard, Microsoft president Brad Smith revealed Xbox's PC games would be coming to the GeForce Now streaming service. 

Naturally, that will also include the Call of Duty franchise, should Microsoft be allowed to acquire the Call of Duty publisher. This deal, like the one recently struck with Nintendo, will last for a full decade.

"We're committed to bringing more games to more people—however they choose to play," said Xbox's Phil Spencer on Twitter.

One of the big sticking points with Microsoft's acquisition is the worry that it would cut off multiplatform franchises like Call of Duty and Overwatch to the Xbox platform. It's previously committed to releasing Call of Duty on Nintendo and Steam for the next decade, so bringing it to NVIDIA is further proof the Xbox maker will keep to its word. 

NVIDIA launched GeForce Now to the public in 2020, and allows PC players to play a library of video games via streaming. According to Smith, the service has 25 million subscribers, so bringing the Xbox's large PC library (and Call of Duty) to the service would definitely be substantial. 

In mid-January, NVIDIA and Google both were asked about their stances with Microsoft's merger. While neither company was expressly against it, they both acknowledged how the Xbox maker could grow exponentially in markets such as PC and cloud gaming. 

In a press release, NVIDIA said its new agreement with Microsoft "delivers increased choice to gamers and resolves Nvidia's concerns with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Nvidia is therefore offering its full support for regulatory approval of the acquisition."

About the Author(s)

Justin Carter

Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com

A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.

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