Xbox and Nintendo sign 10-year Call of Duty contract guaranteeing ports - if the acquisition goes through

Microsoft and Nintendo have signed a 10-year contract that would ensure Call of Duty is available for Nintendo players, as countries continue to push back against the Microsfot x Activision Blizzard merger.

Microsoft first announced its plans for a 10-year deal with Nintendo back in September of last year. These plans detailed that Microsoft was committed to bringing the Call of Duty series to the Nintendo Switch, provided that the merger with Activision Blizzard was approved.

In more recent developments, president and vice chair of Microsoft, Brad Smith, has confirmed via Twitter that Microsoft and Nintendo have since signed the contract. The binding, 10-year contract will bring the Call of Duty series to Nintendo players, “the same days as Xbox, with full feature and content parity.”

Microsoft also detailed that it is, “committed to providing long term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms.”

The brief announcement from Brad Smith doesn’t go into too much detail, aside from the fact that this is a 10-year binding deal. There’s no set date as to when Call of Duty will arrive on Nintendo Switch, and it’s not entirely certain how this deal would work without the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard being successful.

And naturally, all of this hinges on the deal for Microsoft to acquire Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard going through. Currently under huge scrutiny from competition czars around the world, the legal framework of this contract and the joint statement from Nintendo and Microsoft will serve as an encouraging move to help move the deal towards completion.

So far, it isn’t looking too good for Microsoft. Just recently, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) argued how the merger could be harmful for games, and suggested a few ways in which Microsoft could address concerns. These consisted of the divestiture of businesses associated with Call of Duty, or the Activision segment of Activision Blizzard Inc., or the divestiture of the Activision and Blizzard segments of Activision Blizzard Inc.

That’s quite the ultimatum, and Microsoft will soon be making its final attempts at defending the deal, which is anticipated to go through (or not) by June 2023.