NINTENDO ENTERS A 10 YEAR MICROSOFT DEAL

Microsoft aims to buy Activision Blizzard, which also makes Overwatch and Warcraft, for $68.7bn so it has entered into a 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles, following its plan to acquire the game’s publisher.

The CMA has launched an in-depth investigation into the deal, saying Sony’s revenue and users could be “significantly affected” if it loses access to Call of Duty.

It noted that previous Microsoft deals have led to games being made Microsoft exclusives, with its acquisition of Bethesda resulting in the new game Starfield only appearing on Xbox and PC.

Sony has been a vocal critic of the acquisition, which it said in October is “bad for competition, bad for the gaming industry, and bad for gamers themselves”, adding it would give Microsoft “a dominant position in gaming”.

But the 10-year offer is significant for Nintendo, which last had a Call of Duty game on its consoles in 2013.

The Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division Phil Spencer, said Call of Duty would continue to be available on PCs through Steam, a gaming distribution service and this would enable Microsoft to stop Call of Duty from appearing on rival consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation 5.

The game series is still available on the Steam Deck a handheld gaming computer not owned by Microsoft.