Today Microsoft announced another 10-year deal with Ukrainian cloud gaming platform Boosteroid.
The deal promises the availability of Microsoft's own PC games on top of Bethesda's and Activision's on the platform (after the acquisition closes), bringing the availability of Call of Duty games to over 150 million players that did not have access to the franchise before counting the recent deals with Nintendo and Nvidia.
If you're unfamiliar with Boosteroid, it's a cloud platform that debuted in 2017 out of headquarters in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Like many Ukrainian businesses, it has been affected by the criminal russian invasion and its offices in Kharkiv have even been damaged by missile attacks.
Despite that, the company has continued to grow and its services are now available in the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, and Serbia, on top of Ukraine.
The press release included a comment by Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer:
“We believe in the power of games to bring people together. That’s why Xbox is committed to give everyone more ways to play their favorite games, across devices. Bringing Xbox PC games to Boosteroid members, including Activision Blizzard titles such as ‘Call of Duty’ once the deal closes, is yet another step in realizing that vision.”
A second comment from Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith was also included.
“This partnership builds on the $430 million in technology and financial assistance we have provided Ukraine since Russia’s unlawful invasion, and it exemplifies the steps we will continue to take to support Ukraine’s 160,000 software developers. It also adds to our recent agreements with Nintendo and NVIDIA, making even more clear to regulators that our acquisition of Activision Blizzard will make ‘Call of Duty’ available on far more devices than before.”
Last, but not least, we get a statement from Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation.
“Microsoft partnering with Boosteroid is welcome news and further evidence of the company’s ongoing support for Ukraine. Boosteroid’s Ukrainian dev team has built a world-class streaming platform under the most challenging circumstances and demonstrates the ingenuity and creativity of our citizens and local game developers.”
Not only this provides additional support for Ukraine's vibrant gaming industry, but also scores another point in Microsoft's ongoing battle against Sony's increasingly outlandish claims aimed to block the acquisition of Activision, which is still pending approval from regulators.
