Microsoft and NVIDIA announce a new partnership

Microsoft and NVIDIA have announced a 10-year partnership on Tuesday to make Xbox PC games available on NVIDIA’s cloud gaming service, GeForce NOW™. The service currently has over 25 million members across 100 countries.

As per the agreement, players will have the ability to stream Xbox PC games from GeForce NOW to various devices like PCs, macOS, smartphones, Chromebooks, and more. Additionally, once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision is finalized, Activision Blizzard PC games, including Call of Duty, will also be available for streaming on GeForce NOW.

What Microsoft says.

“Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play.”

“This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love.” 

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer

What NVIDIA says.

“Combining the incredibly rich catalog of Xbox first party games with GeForce NOW’s high-performance streaming capabilities will propel cloud gaming into a mainstream offering that appeals to gamers at all levels of interest and experience.”

“Through this partnership, more of the world’s most popular titles will now be available from the cloud with just a click, playable by millions more gamers.”

Jeff Fisher, senior vice president for GeForce, NVIDIA

Concerns over the Activision Blizzard acquisition. The partnership between Microsoft and NVIDIA offers gamers more options and addresses NVIDIA’s apprehensions regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Therefore, NVIDIA has expressed its complete support for the acquisition’s regulatory approval.

Starting right away, Microsoft and NVIDIA will collaborate to integrate Xbox PC games into GeForce NOW, allowing GeForce NOW users to stream games they purchase from the Windows Store, as well as third-party titles for which the publisher has granted streaming rights to NVIDIA. Additionally, Xbox PC games that are presently accessible on third-party stores like Steam or Epic Games Store will also be streamable on GeForce NOW.

Why we care. The partnership between Microsoft and NVIDIA could increase the availability and accessibility of Xbox PC games to a wider audience through the GeForce NOW cloud gaming service. This means that more people will be able to play these games on a variety of devices, including smartphones and Chromebooks, which could lead to increased engagement with the games and more opportunities for advertisers to reach these audiences.

Furthermore, once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finalized, it will also bring popular Activision Blizzard PC games like Call of Duty to the GeForce NOW service, further expanding the potential audience for advertisers to target.

Overall, the partnership between Microsoft and NVIDIA creates an opportunity for advertisers to reach a larger and more diverse gaming audience, which could result in increased ad revenue and better return on investment for their marketing efforts.