Highlights
Ubisoft's Ubisoft+ subscription service is set to benefit greatly from Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as Ubisoft has obtained exclusive cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games.Ubisoft has secured a deal that grants them perpetual streaming rights for all existing games and forthcoming releases from Activision Blizzard for the next 15 years, extending until late 2038. This agreement allows Ubisoft to offer Activision Blizzard games on their platform, Ubisoft+, and enables them to potentially license these games to other cloud streaming providers. It is anticipated that subscription services will gain increasing popularity without completely displacing other distribution methods.
Ubisoft has provided further information regarding its agreement with Microsoft, which allows the company to stream Activision Blizzard games through the cloud. Initially announced during the summer, the deal only became effective after Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard on October 13. Prior to securing this significant content agreement, Ubisoft expressed its belief that Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard was positive for the industry as a whole. This acquisition proved advantageous for Ubisoft as it granted them extensive cloud streaming rights to the extensive catalog of games from Call of Duty, thus contributing to Microsoft's efforts to obtain regulatory approval for the transaction valued at $68.7 billion.
Chris Early, Ubisoft's SVP of strategic partnerships and business development, has confirmed that the agreement will introduce Activision Blizzard games to the Ubisoft+ subscription service, in addition to strengthening the company's future streaming options. While the deal only encompasses the existing games and those scheduled for release within the next 15 years, Early emphasized that the streaming rights themselves are perpetual. In other words, Ubisoft will retain the streaming rights for any part of the Activision Blizzard portfolio released until late 2038.
Microsoft has divested its cloud streaming rights that were acquired through its purchase, as part of its strategy to gain approval from the CMA for the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Ubisoft exclusively purchased those rights in certain markets, while in others it obtained a non-exclusive distributor license. In the European Union, Microsoft made concessions to Brussels, including a pledge that future purchasers of an Activision Blizzard game will be able to stream it on any platform, not just Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Although Ubisoft does not have its own cloud gaming solution, the Ubisoft+ catalog is already available for streaming on Amazon's Luna service. While this deal increases Ubisoft's prospect of developing a successful game streaming platform, the company is waiting for the market to evolve before making any commitments. In the meantime, Ubisoft plans to license Activision Blizzard's games to other cloud streaming providers and offer them to Ubisoft+ subscribers. The addition of the titles to the subscription service does not currently have a specific timeline, as the company waited for the acquisition to be finalized before beginning work on including them in Ubisoft+.
Going forward, Early anticipates that subscription services will continue to gain popularity, without necessarily overshadowing other distribution methods. Expanding on this, the executive expressed the view that physical game releases will always retain their presence and won't become obsolete. Therefore, Ubisoft's Activision Blizzard game streaming deal is simply a further step in the company's ongoing endeavor to broaden accessibility to gaming, according to Early's conclusion.
