Microsoft inks Xbox game deal with Boosteroid cloud service
By London, The Associated Press on March 14, 2023.
Microsoft said Tuesday that it has struck a deal to make Xbox PC video games available on the Boosteroid cloud gaming platform, its latest move to appease antitrust regulators scrutinizing its purchase of game maker Activision Blizzard. The U.S. tech giant said the 10-year agreement would also include Activision Blizzard titles like the popular Call of Duty franchise if or when the acquisition gets approved. Microsoft has been announcing new partnerships as it tries to persuade regulators in the U.S. and Europe to allow the $69 billion all-cash transaction to go through. In recent months, Microsoft has signed similar agreements with Nintendo, Nvidia and Steam as it battles stiff opposition from Sony, which makes the rival PlayStation console and fears losing access to Call of Duty and Activision’s other hit games. The agreement makes “more clear to regulators that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will make “˜Call of Duty’ available on far more devices than before,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said. Boosteroid, which has 4 million users and a software development team based in Ukraine, is billed as the world’s biggest independent cloud gaming provider. 7-6
