Ubisoft Adding Activision Blizzard Games To Its Subscription Service (Yes, Really)

Ubisoft is set to add Activision Blizzard games to its Ubisoft+ games subscription platform. Titles will begin appearing on the service following the completion of Microsoft’s long-running acquisition of the mega-publisher. With this announcement, Ubisoft is granted cloud streaming rights to the Call of Duty franchise and any new Activision Blizzard titles launched in the next 15 years.

Just gonna pause here for a moment so we can all re-read that absolutely bonkers quartet of sentences. File directly under ‘article ledes I never would have guessed with a million tries.’

Ubisoft made the announcement via its social media channels and its official newswire late this afternoon. From the press release:

“Ubisoft today announced the signing of an agreement which will give Ubisoft cloud streaming rights to games like Call of Duty and more, coming into effect upon the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The agreement includes the complete slate of current Activision Blizzard games, as well as all their new titles launching in the 15 years after the closing of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The games will land on Ubisoft+, while also allowing Ubisoft to license them to cloud gaming companies, service providers, and console makers.”

The way to access all of these Activision Blizzard games will be to pick up a Ubisoft+ Multi Access tier subscription. That’s the Ubisoft equivalent of the Game Pass Ultimate or PS Plus Deluxe tiers, it’s the top-flight and priciest option Ubi has available. In Australia, Ubisoft+ Multi Access will set you back $23 per month

I feel like I’m having a stroke. I’m tasting colours. What the fuck is going on? Is this a play by Microsoft to placate PlayStation’s concerns about cloud streaming? Absorb one giant third-party publisher and palm the cloud streaming rights off to another? In the months and months of struggle and strife it took Microsoft to get this monstrous deal done, how the hell did Ubisoft manage to Stephen Bradbury its way into the cloud streaming rights for Call of god damned Duty?

The short answer is: This is all a tactical pivot to placate the CMA. The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK was prepared to continue its block on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger unless further changes were made to the deal. Per Bloomberg, Microsoft is understood to have gone back to the table with a substantially revised version of its deal — if the CMA agrees to the acquisition’s passage, it won’t include the cloud streaming rights to the Activision Blizzard library in the purchase. With this explosive Ubisoft announcement, Microsoft is attempting to show, not tell. “Look,” it’s saying, “We’re so committed to this compromise that we’ve already gone and sold them off.”

There’s currently no timeline for when the Activision Blizzard library will reach Ubisoft+. Ubisoft, rather pointedly, does not say that its cloud streaming rights, nor its claim to the Activision Blizzard library, are exclusive, which may mean that Microsoft has been shopping its new toys around a bit. I watch with interest to see if anyone else will be taking a slice of the cloud streaming pie in the days and weeks to come.

Update 5:18 pm AEST: Piece updated with new information from Bloomberg regarding the CMA and Microsoft’s revised deal. — David.