Microsoft announced a second 10-year deal to make its Xbox game library available on Boosteroid‘s cloud gaming platform. Microsoft is attempting to persuade regulators to approve the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and this is the company’s third agreement with rival gaming platforms.
Microsoft announced last year that it would pay $68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. One of the biggest video game publishers in the world is Activision Blizzard. Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush Saga are just a few of the hugely successful gaming franchises the company created and its internal studios.
However, Microsoft has encountered issues with the regulation in the United Kingdom, United States, and European Union. By April 11, 2023, European regulators will decide whether to approve or disapprove the acquisition. In other words, regulators will soon give Microsoft the green light to proceed.
Microsoft has made long-term commitments to release all of its titles, including Call of Duty games, on platforms other than Xbox gaming consoles. Microsoft President Brad Smith announced agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia’s GeForce Now service last month.
According to the press release, Xbox PC games will now be available on Boosteroid’s service, which bills itself as “the largest independent cloud gaming provider in the world” with more than 4 million users worldwide. And more subtly, Microsoft states that “Boosteroid customers will be able to stream Activision Blizzard PC titles after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard closes.” if the deal is completed.
This will allow games developed by Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard to be playable on various cloud gaming services and subscriptions, surpassing more than 150 million additional players, according to the post.
If the deal is completed, Activision Blizzard Chief Communications Officer Lulu Cheng Meservey suggested incoherently earlier this year that the fact that the Federal Trade Commission is still suing to stop the merger would prevent a show like The Last of Us from being successful. Both the European Union as well as the United Kingdom are conducting legal investigations into the merger.
Today, the business announces the addition of a third partner and affirms its commitment to keeping Microsoft games on Boosteroid for the ensuing ten years. A smaller version of Nvidia GeForce Now, Boosteroid is a cloud gaming service.
Games now run on a gaming-optimized server in a data center close to you rather than on your local device. Your display receives the video stream after that. The server receives a signal when you press a button on your controller.
The business isn’t a subscription service like Netflix, similar to Nvidia’s cloud gaming service. Users must instead purchase individual games from PC-based online retailers like Steam and the Epic Games Store. Customers of Boosteroid pay a subscription fee each month to access the company’s servers. Users can still play the purchased games even if they cancel their subscriptions.
Although Boosteroid withholds information about the hardware components of its servers, it guarantees a 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second. The monthly or annual cost of the service is €9.89 ($10.61 and $96.57 at the current exchange rate), respectively.
The U.S. and Europe (including France, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the U.K.) are where Boosteroid’s servers are located (Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Washington). Because latency is crucial for cloud gaming, living close to a data center is crucial.
According to Boosteroid, 4 million users have signed up. The service can be accessed through a web browser, and the business also offers specialized software for Windows, macOS, Android, Android TV, and Linux. Microsoft and Sony have not come to terms for future Call of Duty games to be made available on PlayStation consoles.
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