Valve appreciates Microsoft’s continued support of the Steam storefront and says that a formal agreement isn’t really necessary for their partnership together.
We’re happy that Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to reach customers with Call of Duty when their Activision acquisition closes,” said Valve CEO Gabe Newell in a statement to Kotaku. “Microsoft has been on Steam for a long time and we take it as a signal that they are happy with gamers reception to that and the work we are doing. Our job is to keep building valuable features for not only Microsoft but all Steam customers and partners.”
Newell explains that Microsoft even sent a draft for a long-term community to keep Call of Duty on the Steam platform but clarifies that there was no need to do so. He says that Valve doesn’t believe in requiring any partner to have a formal agreement that essentially locks them into shipping games on Steam.
Newell also notes that Phil Spencer and the Xbox team have always followed through on their commitments and trust their intentions. Additionally, Newell believes that Microsoft has the motivation to put Call of Duty on platforms and devices that players want to be on.
Just yesterday, Microsoft committed to bringing Call of Duty onto Nintendo platforms for the next 10 years if the Activision-Blizzard merger goes through. Spencer has also said that Microsoft has not made any progress with PlayStation in accepting similar terms.
Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard merger is currently being reviewed by the FTC and other regulators in Europe and the UK. The deadline to close the deal is July 2023, otherwise, the two parties will have to renegotiate.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
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