ALBAWABA - With Microsoft successfully acquiring Activision Blizzard in recent events, fans are wondering if they will be able to play any games from the publisher and developer, including the Call of Duty and Diablo series on Xbox Game Pass.
The full acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft started on Jan. 18, 2022, and ended on Oct. 13, 2023, taking them more than a year and costing a whopping $68.7 billion in fees.
Phil Spencer: No Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass this year
Microsoft's Xbox head, Phil Spencer gave users a definitive answer and unfortunately said that we won't be getting any Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass for at least a couple of months.
Phil admitted in the official Xbox podcast mentioned above that when they acquired Bethesda in 2021, a number of their games started pouring in as fast as possible on Games Pass, but that won't be the case with Activision Blizzard.
Phil said:
"The regulatory process took so long... that we weren’t able to get in and work with Activision Blizzard on that back catalog work. Now that the deal is closed, we’re starting that work, but there is work.
I think the Activision Twitter handle... did put out something that talked about 2024, and I think that’s accurate. I would love it if there was some kind of secret celebration drop that’s coming in the next couple of weeks — there’s not."
Activision Blizzard/ Diablo IV
Additionally, Activision Blizzard took to their official X account (formerly known as Twitter) and assured subscribers that they won't be getting Modern Warfare III and Diablo IV on Xbox Game Pass this year although they did not make it clear if fans are going to get older titles or not.
Phil Spencer also added that he knows "there will be some disappointment about that" and that “This acquisition is definitely long-term, so the fact that we’re not hitting day one with a bunch of games dropping into Game Pass is a little bit of a downer, but I’m very excited about the future. And I just want to be straight with people that that’s where we are.”
The good news is there is a large roster of games available now on the platform including Bethesda's newest open-world RPG, Starfield, Gotham Knights, Payday 3, The Forza franchise, and more!
Take in mind that the subscription is available for both Xbox and PC users with some games coming exclusively on consoles only.
Subscribe to Xbox Game Pass here.
