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Nvidia and Microsoft have worked out a partnership that will bring Xbox PC games to the GeForce Now gaming livestream service.
Announced on Nvidia’s official blog, the partnership is part of a 10-year deal that sees games on third-party services like Steam or Epic Games Store land on the cloud service. The post also shares the very first games that will be available on the Windows Store. Support for Halo, Minecraft, and Elder Scrolls is currently in the works, while titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch will carry over if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision goes through.
The latter faced strong opposition from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which filed a lawsuit at the end of 2022 to block the deal. If the FTC wins, Microsoft will not only lose exclusive rights to top-selling games, but also not have those games to offer those same titles to Nvidia.
Microsoft’s impending lawsuit
This isn’t the only 10-year deal Microsoft has made recently. Nintendo and Microsoft reached a historical long-term legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms. It’s huge since the last COD title to come to a Nintendo console was Call of Duty: Ghosts in 2013.
The timing is what’s interesting about this deal, as it serves to counter the FTC’s argument that the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard would create a monopoly within the gaming industry and violate US antitrust laws.
Microsoft reportedly had too Sony offered the rights to Call of Duty on PS Plus, which serves to dispel any doubt that the former would create a monopoly. This offer followed Sony’s very public opposition to the deal. The tech giant also recently Sony filed a subpoena to appear in a pre-court hearing and, according to the court filing, Sony wants PlayStation’s game production pipeline detailed.