Xbox head Phil Spencer announced today that Microsoft has reached an agreement with Nintendo to bring the Call of Duty franchise to its gaming platform: according to it, games in the series will be appearing on Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years.
Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
Additionally, in a follow-up tweet, Phil Spencer also added that Call of Duty will continue to be released on Steam after its acquisition by Activision Blizzard is complete.
I'm also pleased to confirm that Microsoft has committed to continue to offer Call of Duty on @Steam simultaneously to Xbox after we have closed the merger with Activision Blizzard King. @ATVI_AB @ValveSoftware
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
It should be noted that in September Sony reported that Microsoft offered it a similar agreement, but only for 3 years - and Sony refused, calling it "inadequate". It looks like Microsoft has decided to reconsider its offer - and now, according to Wall Street Journal, again turned to Sony, but now the term of such an agreement has been extended to 10 years. It is interesting how Sony will react to this - will it agree or continue to "trade" further.