Update: looks like my original understanding of this new deal was incorrect. I thought these changes applied in the UK only. But, most sources indicate that this applies worldwide. If that's correct, I'm surprised. I guess it It is further evidence that this deal has always really been about getting their hands on King to expand their mobile gaming business, and less about Game Pass.
Original post:
The takeaway is that Microsoft and Activision have agreed to sell the cloud rights of current and future Activision games in the UK to Ubisoft, and not to reacquire them for 15 years.
The way I see it, this is about as good of a proposition for UK gamers, and gamers overall, as could realistically have been hoped for with CMA standing in the way of the deal closing. Presumably, this means that Ubisoft will get further into the cloud streaming business in the near future. And since they are already a major publisher, this means there's not going to be yet another service that UK gamers will have to subscribe to to get access to these games. Instead of having X Cloud, Activision UK (or whatever a potential service might be called) and Ubisoft streaming services to subscribe to, gamers in the UK will only need to subscribe to X cloud and Ubisoft to get their hands on all of those games.
And if Ubisoft is eventually acquired by someone else, it would likely be an existing gaming business. This is far better for gamers than the potential non-gaming acquirers that had been floated over the last few months.
Also, this should be the last step in getting the deal over the finish line. So we should be able to stop talking about it soon.
So, I think this is good news all around.
Last edited by VAMatt - on 23 August 2023