Microsoft isn’t done fighting for its proposed $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard. Following the decision of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to block the deal to prevent what they believed would be dangers to the nascent cloud gaming market, Microsoft has now signed yet another 10-year deal with a cloud gaming platform, following the contracts with NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, Boosteroid, Ubitus, and EE.
This time, the beneficiary is Madrid-based startup Nware, which provides servers in Madrid and São Paulo to stream PC games via a Windows PC client, Android mobile, or Android TV. I couldn’t find detailed specifications on Nware’s server capabilities, though the website mentions 16GB of RAM and 4GB of VRAM for streaming up to 1080p@60FPS, provided you’ve got at least a 10Mbps connection. There are two main ways to get access to your games through Nware, as detailed on the company’s website:
Right now our catalog integration feature inside the THUMBNAILS section works with Steam. If you have your licensed games purchased in Steam, you’ll be able to sync your Steam account with Nware and play your games in the cloud. There is a specific section in the Nware app where you can sync your Steam profile so that your game library can show up under your personalized ‘My Games’ section. For example, if you have already purchased a game on Steam, you don’t have to purchase it again to play it on Nware. On the other hand, if there is a game that you would like to play but you have not yet purchased it, you will be redirected to the Steam website so that you can make that purchase and afterwards update your game catalog in Nware. If you leave Nware in the future, you will not lose your games nor your progress.
We also have a LAUNCHERS feature inside the Nware app, which is a space reserved for you in which you can directly access the Steam, Epic Games, Ubisoft, Roblox and Minecraft launchers directly and freely install any video game that may or may not be available through Nware. This LAUNCHERS section provides each user with 100 GB of storage space available by default to install games, with the possibility of unlocking more GBs every month with Loyalty Rewards.
The base plan is billed monthly and priced at €8.99, while the premium plan costs €10.99 but lets you use the Launchers feature to install up to 100GB of games, with more unlockable through loyalty rewards. Additionally, an annual €99.99 plan bumps that storage to 250GB.
Back to Microsoft, this is likely to be just one of several deals the company will try to sign in the near future to show it is willing to deliver its games (including Activision Blizzard’s) to any cloud gaming platform.
However, it is doubtful this will move the CMA since they didn’t consider the previously signed deals as relevant customer benefits in their final verdict. The next step for Microsoft is the appeal to the Competition Appeal Tribunal, though it’ll take some time.
Meanwhile, president Brad Smith had some pretty harsh words for the United Kingdom’s investment prospects, not to mention a call to action for the country’s Prime Minister to look at the Competition and Markets Authority. Also, Ukraine has become the seventh country to fully clear the merger, following Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, and Serbia.
