What you need to know
- Gamers in the European Economic Area can now play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Crash Team Rumble on cloud streaming services other than Xbox Cloud Gaming.
- As part of Xbox's commitment to the European Commission, European gamers will see a pop-up the next time they launch those four games.
- The pop-up is an updated Software License and Service Agreement.
The first seasonal content drop for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 just dropped, including a brand-new map for Call of Duty: Warzone. Gamers in the European Economic Area will be greeted with a new pop-up when they next launch Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Warzone, or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as well as Crash Team Rumble. The pop-up is an updated Software License and Service Agreement, which now reflects the licensing changes the European Commission required to approve Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.
The pop-up resembles the standard EULA agreement users are asked to accept before launching the game the first time. However, some language has been adjusted for European consumers to reflect that Microsoft will allow them to play eligible games "solely for their personal use" on a cloud streaming service on any device they own.
Microsoft licenses its rights under a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to Eligible Streaming Services to stream Eligible Games for the sole benefit of Consumers in accordance with the Consumer License, as defined in and pursuant to the Commitments entered into by Microsoft and made legally binding by the European Commission in its decision under Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) 139/2004 in case M. 10646 -Microsoft/Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft
In defining "Eligible games," Microsoft declares that all current and future PC and console franchises, titles under those franchises, and any other games content—including add-ons and DLC—that have been developed by Activision Blizzard in the past or will be developed in the future are included under the agreement. The full terms of the agreement between Microsoft and the European Commission can be found on the Xbox website.
Joe Skrebels, Editor-in-Chief of the Xbox Wire, originally penned news of the impending pop-up and its intention. Skrebels describes the pop-up as a minor inconvenience that shows Xbox and Microsoft honoring commitments and written permission for players to enjoy Call of Duty and Crash Team Rumble in a new way via alternative cloud streaming services.
Skrebels also confirms that these pop-ups will not be necessary in the future as the licenses will be incorporated into the game's terms of use at launch.
