Activision Blizzard appears to have quietly removed its games from Nvidia's streaming service, GeForce Now. The service only went live earlier this month, so the loss of titles doesn't bode particularly well for it.
The idea behind Nvidia's service is a great one - rather than having to pay for renewed access to games you might already own on a different storefront, GeForce Now lets you play the games you own by installing them to a remote machine for streaming purposes.
That's compelling, since it puts the freedom to shape your library in your own hands. However, Activision Blizzard's withdrawal from the service has removed some massive titles from its reach.
The likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Overwatch and Hearthstone are all no longer available, which will be a dispiriting blow for Nvidia so soon after the platform's launch. They'd also been fine during a two-year beta period.
Nvidia's comments on the matter are conciliatory: "While unfortunate, we hope to work together with Activision Blizzard to reenable these games and more in the future.”
What next for Activision Blizzard's games?
In fact, it's set the rumour mill a-spinning, since it seems like a fairly significant about-face from Activision Blizzard. The logic being applied is that this must mean that the giant publisher has other streaming plans for its games. Could it have signed an exclusive agreement with a major competitor like Google Stadia?
Google and Activision Blizzard are certainly snuggling up to each other in other areas, like the streaming rights to the Overwatch League and other events going to YouTube in a recent deal.
If this does mean that the games are Stadia-bound, it'll be interesting to see how consumers react. To play them on Google's service they'll have to either subscribe or buy them again, which could rub some people up the wrong way.