Microsoft closed its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard in October. However, the road to that closing was not a smooth one. Microsoft had to make a number of deals with regulators, particularly in Europe and the UK.
One agreement that Microsoft made with the European Union concerned cloud gaming rights. At the time, Microsoft agreed to two remedies:
- A free license to consumers in the EEA that would allow them to stream, via any cloud game streaming services of their choice, all current and future Activision Blizzard PC and console games for which they have a license.
- A corresponding free license to cloud game streaming service providers to allow EEA-based gamers to stream any Activision Blizzard"s PC and console games.
Today, Microsoft announced on Xbox Wire that the next time players in the EEA boot up four specific Activision games, they will see a one-time pop-up message asking them to agree to a new Software License and Service Agreement.
The four games that will receive this pop-up message are:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Crash Team Rumble
Microsoft stated:
The full terms of this agreement can be found here, but as we know you’ll be eager to jump into your game, we’re sharing that the change is a small one, reflecting the grant of a free license to EEA consumers that allows them to stream that title, via any cloud game streaming service of their choice that supports streaming the game, on any device they may own.
The link provided by Microsoft also includes new Software License Agreements for other older Activision games, some of which are no longer officially supported by Microsoft. The full list includes:
- Amazing Spider-Man 2
- Angry Birds Star Wars
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Call of Duty: Mobile
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
- Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It"s About Time
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (Sony Europe)
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (Sony North America)
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
- Crash Team Rumble
- Cut The Rope: Triple Treat
- Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions
- Guitar Hero Live
- King"s Quest
- Peanuts
- Project Aurora
- Prototype
- Prototype 2
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Shiftlings
- Skylanders Imaginators
- Skylanders Imaginators (Sony Europe)
- Skylanders Imaginators (Sony North America)
- Skylanders SuperChargers
- Skylanders Trap Team
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy
- Tony Hawk"s Pro Skater 1 + 2
- Tony Hawk"s Pro Skater 5
- Transformers Devastation
- Velocity 2X
Microsoft says that the pop-up messages for the four games will be the only time that this will show up. Future Activision Blizzard games will have the cloud gaming license feature as part of their overall software license agreement.