Microsoft Signs Third ‘Call of Duty’ Deal as It Seeks Approval to Buy Activision Blizzard
BRUSSELS—Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith said the company reached a deal with cloud gaming company Boosteroid on distributing “Call of Duty” videogames and expects more agreements to follow as the software giant pushes to convince regulators to approve its planned $75 billion acquisition of the videogame franchise’s owner, Activision Blizzard Inc.
Microsoft said Boosteroid is the largest independent cloud-streaming company, with about four million users globally, including in the European Union, the U.K. and the U.S. The 10-year agreement would allow its customers to stream Activision games including ‘‘Call of Duty” if the acquisition goes through, Microsoft said. It is the third such pact Microsoft has signed. It previously reached similar deals with console maker Nintendo Co. and chip maker Nvidia Corp.
