The first Activision games became available on Ubisoft Plus Premium on December 3, 2025 via cloud streaming through NVIDIA GeForce NOW, marking the beginning of what might be the gaming industry’s weirdest partnership. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy are now playable for Ubisoft Plus Premium subscribers at $17.99 monthly, with more Activision Blizzard titles including Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV coming soon. This bizarre arrangement exists because Microsoft was forced to sell cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft in August 2023 to satisfy UK regulators and close the $69 billion acquisition. The deal grants Ubisoft 15 years of streaming rights for all current and future Activision Blizzard games, allowing them to offer titles on their own platform and license them to other cloud gaming services.
How Did We Get Here
This situation traces back to October 2023 when Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard faced regulatory hurdles from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA blocked the deal over concerns about Microsoft controlling too much of the emerging cloud gaming market, particularly worrying that Xbox Game Pass combined with xCloud streaming and massive franchises like Call of Duty would create unfair competitive advantages. To address these concerns, Microsoft struck a deal with Ubisoft transferring all cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games outside the European Economic Area for the next 15 years.
The agreement covers the complete slate of current Activision Blizzard games plus all new titles launching within 15 years after Microsoft’s acquisition closed. Ubisoft gains perpetual licenses that extend beyond the initial 15-year term, meaning they retain streaming rights indefinitely even after 2038. The deal also allows Ubisoft to license these games to other cloud gaming companies, service providers, and console makers, creating a complex web where Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard but doesn’t control where their games stream. It’s corporate regulatory gymnastics at its finest.
What’s Actually Available
The December 3 launch includes four titles as the first wave, with Ubisoft confirming more Activision and Blizzard games arriving soon. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II drops players into global conflict featuring iconic Task Force 141 operators with single-player campaign, multiplayer combat, and Special Ops co-op gameplay. Modern Warfare III continues the story with new campaigns and multiplayer modes. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy bring remastered classic platformers to the streaming lineup.
The important catch is that these games are streaming-only through NVIDIA GeForce NOW integration. You’re not downloading them natively to the Ubisoft Connect launcher like you would with Assassin’s Creed or Rainbow Six Siege. This means your experience depends entirely on your internet connection quality, cloud server proximity, and GeForce NOW infrastructure rather than local hardware performance. For players with excellent internet, this works fine. For anyone with data caps, inconsistent speeds, or high latency, it creates frustrating limitations that wouldn’t exist with local installs.
Premium Tier Requirement
Access to Activision games requires Ubisoft Plus Premium at $17.99 monthly, not the cheaper Classics tier. Premium provides streaming access to Ubisoft’s vast catalog plus these Activision titles, positioning the service as a Netflix-style all-you-can-play option for players who want variety without purchasing individual games. However, $17.99 monthly adds up to $215.88 annually, substantially more expensive than buying one or two full-price games per year that you own permanently rather than renting access as long as you maintain the subscription.
The pricing makes sense for players who consistently try new games and bounce between titles frequently, extracting value from the breadth of available content. For players who focus on one competitive game like Call of Duty for months at a time, paying $18 monthly to stream something you could buy once and own forever feels wasteful. The calculation changes if you actively play both Ubisoft and Activision catalogs simultaneously, justifying the cost through sheer volume of content consumed. Ultimately, subscription value is personal and depends on individual gaming habits.
Why Ubisoft Wanted This
Ubisoft acquiring cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard’s catalog strengthens Ubisoft Plus as a competitive subscription service against Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, and EA Play. Adding Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and other massive franchises transforms Ubisoft Plus from a niche service mainly offering Ubisoft’s own games into a legitimate multi-publisher platform. Senior Vice President Chris Early stated the acquisition enables Ubisoft to strengthen their content offering while licensing streaming access to other cloud gaming companies, creating dual revenue streams from subscription fees and licensing deals.
The licensing component is particularly valuable because Ubisoft can negotiate with cloud services like Amazon Luna, Boosteroid, or console makers wanting to offer cloud gaming without directly partnering with Microsoft. This positions Ubisoft as a middleman controlling access to some of gaming’s most valuable intellectual property in the streaming space, potentially generating substantial licensing revenue on top of direct subscription income. Whether this business model proves sustainable long-term depends on cloud gaming adoption rates and whether streaming ever replaces local installs as the dominant consumption method.
The Absurdity of It All
Launching Call of Duty via a Ubisoft subscription service through Nvidia’s cloud infrastructure while Microsoft owns Activision represents peak modern gaming industry complexity. Three years ago, suggesting this scenario would happen would have sounded like parody. Yet here we are, with regulatory intervention forcing corporate partnerships that make no intuitive sense but exist because giant companies needed to satisfy government agencies worried about monopolistic control of emerging markets.
The situation highlights how cloud gaming remains contentious regulatory territory where normal acquisition rules don’t apply. Traditional game purchases transfer ownership of physical or digital products with clear precedent for antitrust enforcement. Cloud streaming creates ambiguous situations where companies control access rather than selling products, prompting regulators to demand structural separations like Microsoft selling streaming rights to Ubisoft. Whether these interventions actually promote competition or just create inefficient middleman arrangements remains debatable, but for now, Call of Duty streams through Ubisoft Plus and everyone pretends this makes perfect sense.
FAQs
Can I play Call of Duty on Ubisoft Plus now?
Yes. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Modern Warfare III are available on Ubisoft Plus Premium via cloud streaming through NVIDIA GeForce NOW as of December 3, 2025. More Call of Duty titles are coming soon.
How much does Ubisoft Plus Premium cost?
Ubisoft Plus Premium costs $17.99 per month. This tier includes streaming access to Ubisoft’s full catalog plus Activision Blizzard games. The cheaper Classics tier does not include Activision titles.
Can I download Activision games from Ubisoft Plus?
No. Activision games on Ubisoft Plus are streaming-only through NVIDIA GeForce NOW integration. You cannot download them natively to your PC like traditional Ubisoft Connect titles. Your experience depends on internet connection quality.
Why does Ubisoft have Activision games?
Microsoft sold cloud streaming rights for all Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft in August 2023 to satisfy UK regulatory concerns about the $69 billion acquisition. The deal grants Ubisoft 15 years of streaming rights for current and future Activision Blizzard titles.
What Activision games are on Ubisoft Plus?
Currently available: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. More titles including Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV are coming soon.
Can Ubisoft license these games to other services?
Yes. The deal allows Ubisoft to license Activision Blizzard streaming rights to other cloud gaming companies, service providers, and console makers worldwide outside the European Economic Area.
Is this permanent or temporary?
The deal lasts 15 years from Microsoft’s acquisition closing, but Ubisoft retains perpetual licenses even after that period ends. They will have Activision Blizzard streaming rights indefinitely.
Conclusion
Activision games arriving on Ubisoft Plus Premium represents the gaming industry at its most beautifully absurd. Regulatory intervention forced Microsoft to sell streaming rights to a French competitor just to close their acquisition, creating a situation where one of gaming’s biggest franchises streams through a platform most associated with Assassin’s Creed. The fact that this makes business sense to all parties involved demonstrates how cloud gaming has scrambled traditional industry relationships and created weird partnerships nobody predicted five years ago. Whether players benefit from this arrangement depends on their tolerance for streaming limitations and willingness to pay $18 monthly for access rather than ownership. For Ubisoft, landing Call of Duty strengthens their subscription service considerably. For Microsoft, sacrificing streaming control was necessary to complete the Activision acquisition. For consumers, it’s one more subscription competing for their wallets in an increasingly fragmented market where you need five services to access the games you want. Welcome to the future of gaming, where nothing makes sense but somehow everything works.