With a post on its official blog Microsoft today announced a 10-year deal with Boosteroid, a Ukrainian software development team specializing in cloud gaming. With this partnership, the company aims to further expand the reach of its game streaming services.
It is no coincidence that Boosteroid has recently surpassed the 4 million users globallybecoming the largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world. As part of the partnership, Boosteroid users will be able to play some of the most important PC titles in the cloud Activision Blizzard (including games in the Call of Duty franchise). This condition, however, will only be met upon completion of the Activision acquisition, which is currently frozen by regulators.
Microsoft aims at cloud gaming and winks at the authorities
In the post, Microsoft underlines how agreements of this type can bring Activision Blizzard titles to more and more players. “When combined with other recently announced partnerships from Microsoft, popular franchises like Call of Duty will surpass more than 150 million players and make games created by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard playable across multiple cloud gaming services,” the company wrote. subscriptions”.
It is absolutely no coincidence that Microsoft underlines this aspect, given that the concerns that led to the freezing of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard concern precisely the hypothetical monopoly of the gaming market. Sonythe owner of PlayStation and Xbox’s main competitor, is lobbying the authorities, alleging that Microsoft could make Call of Duty games exclusive to Xbox if its acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through. Sony also suggested that Microsoft may boycott games for other consoles in the future.
The partnership announced today, also and above all for how it was presented, seems a direct response to such allegations.
“We believe in the power of games to bring people together. That’s why Xbox is committed to giving everyone more ways to play their favorite games, across all devices,” he said Phil Spencer, CEO di Gaming, Microsoft. “Bringing Xbox PC games to Boosteroid members, including Activision Blizzard titles like ‘Call of Duty’ once the deal closes, is another step toward realizing that vision.”