Microsoft president says he has Activision licensing deal with Nvidia

By Foo Yun Chee and Stephen Nellis

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:) President Brad Smith said on Tuesday the U.S. software giant has agreed to a licensing deal that will bring Activision games to Nvidia (NASDAQ:) Corp’s gaming platform and hoped that rival Sony (NYSE:) Group Corp will consider doing the same.

Smith told a news conference he was now more optimistic of getting the Activision acquisition done after the Nvidia licensing deal as well as a similar arrangement with Nintendo.

Smith also said Nvidia supports the Xbox maker’s bid to purchase Activision, which has come under scrutiny by antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe. European officials issued Microsoft a warning about the deal earlier this month, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge to block the deal.

Nvidia said in a press statement that it has struck a 10- year deal with Microsoft to immediately start work on integrating Xbox games into its GeForce Now streaming games service, which has 25 million users in more than 100 countries.