Microsoft has signed yet another 10-year cloud gaming deal in a move that appears to be part of the Xbox company’s efforts to convince regulators that its proposed deal to buy Activision Blizzard should be allowed to go through. Microsoft and UK mobile network EE have announced a “10-year commitment” for cloud gaming to bring Activision Blizzard’s PC games to EE customers.
“We are committed to bring more games to more people, however they choose to play,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said on Twitter. EE executive Marc Allera, meanwhile, said EE is “delighted” to be working with Microsoft to help make EE the “no. 1 destination for gamers…”
Microsoft and @EE are expanding our partnership with a 10-year commitment in cloud gaming to bring PC games built by Activision Blizzard, following the acquisition, and Xbox to @EE customers. We are committed to bring more games to more people, however they choose to play.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 11, 2023
Delighted to be working with @Microsoft to expand @EE’s gaming partnership to include a new 10-year cloud gaming commitment to bring PC games built by @xbox and Activision Blizzard – following the acquisition – to our customers.
— Marc Allera (@MarcAllera) April 11, 2023
The announcement of Microsoft’s 10-year deal with EE–which follows similar decade-long pacts with Boosteroid, Ubitus, and GeForce Now–is seemingly part of Microsoft’s effort to appease regulators about one of their main concerns. The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority has provisionally concluded that Microsoft’s proposed deal to buy Activision Blizzard will not limit competition in the console space, but the CMA continues to have concerns about the cloud market. Microsoft announcing these deals with key UK players in the cloud space seems to be connected with all of this. Whether or not this is enough to get the deal done, however, remains to be seen. And even if the buyout clears regulatory hurdles in the UK (the deadline is April 26), Microsoft still needs to convince the United States government to clear the deal.
