Microsoft-Activision deal: What's on the cards for gamers in India?

Despite global brouhaha over Microsoft's dominance, the merger may benefit gamers here

The debate around Microsoft’s pending $68.7-billion acquisition of American video game publisher Activision Blizzard continues to intensify, particularly after Microsoft’s recent meeting with European Union regulators. During the meeting, Microsoft looked to make its case, mostly countering Sony’s opposition to the deal.

One of the biggest points about the Activision purchase pertains to the potential implications for Call of Duty, one of the world's best-selling video game franchises.

Sony argues that the acquisition would grant Microsoft too much control over a franchise like Call of Duty, and the potential restrictions may give the company an unfair advantage.

Microsoft counters this argument, claiming that it’s not in the company’s best interest to restrict access to Activision Blizzard properties and that it remains committed to continuing offering Call of Duty and other IPs to other platforms.

The tech giant has explicitly stated that Microsoft has offered to continue bringing Call of Duty to PlayStation for the foreseeable future in a long-term agreement.

Microsoft is also lobbying hard to get other gaming giants on its team.

In its latest attempt at gaining support for the acquisition, Microsoft announced that the company is partnering up with Nintendo. A 10-year agreement with the gaming major will bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players on the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity. While Microsoft has assured Call of Duty’s performance on Nintendo, the company is yet to share details on the specifics of the deal.

Earlier, bartering for Nvidia’s support, the tech-giant had also signed a similar 10-year contract that gives Nvidia the right to stream Xbox PC games over its GeForce Now cloud gaming subscription service.

These moves make a strong case for Microsoft’s willingness to share.

The deal isn’t just for Halo or Forza Motorsport but also covers the Bethesda games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Minecraft is coming to GeForce Now. And if the Activision Blizzard deal goes through, the entire Battle.net catalogue — including Call of Duty, Overwatch and presumably StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo – will be available on GeForce.

In all probability, the Xbox-maker will continue to forge more Call of Duty-related partnerships, and has already gained approval from Brazil, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, and Chile regions. Reportedly, China will also approve Microsoft’s Activision purchase in the future.

However, despite the seemingly growing support for Microsoft, questions still loom over the potential implications of its increased control over Activision Blizzard.

In December, US’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block the Activision acquisition claiming that it will lead to Microsoft “manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services” as well as “changing the terms and timing of access to Activision's content, or withholding content from competitors entirely”.

Soon, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) conducted its own investigations on the pending deal. The UK regulator raises concerns over game exclusivity and cloud gaming. While Microsoft holds a commanding position in the cloud gaming market, the CMA points out that acquiring Activision may bump up Microsoft’s cloud gaming market share to about 60-70 per cent.

A good game for India?

The Microsoft-Activision deal, however, has the potential to greatly benefit gamers in India by improving access to high-quality gaming experiences. The tech giant’s partnership with Nvidia and Nintendo has already made sure that most well-known titles will now be accessible from the cloud with a single click, making them playable by millions more gamers.

“With Nvidia’s advanced graphics technology and Microsoft's robust gaming platforms, gamers in India can expect to see significant improvements in graphics, performance, and overall gameplay,” says Yash Pariani, CEO and founder of House of Gaming.

Once the Nvidia and Nintendo deals are finalised, Microsoft will have access to a larger array of gaming platforms for launching its Activision acquisitions including Call of Duty.

Moreover, the combined ecosystem of Nvidia, Nintendo and Activision is likely to enable game developers to access cutting-edge tools and resources, making it easier to create high-quality games for Indian gamers, Pariani added.