Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has confirmed that Call of Duty will be included in Xbox Game Pass. According to a Microsoft blog post, once the acquisition is completed, Activision Blizzard’s game library will be available on the Xbox game subscription service. Other high-quality titles, such as Overwatch and Diablo, will be included in the lineup. However, Call of Duty will not be considered an Xbox-exclusive title. In the future, Call of Duty will be available on Xbox Game Pass while remaining available on PlayStation on the same day.
The announcement comes after the UK’s regulatory body, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), completed its preliminary investigation into Microsoft’s $68 billion (approximately Rs. 5,41,800 crore) acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The approval process has progressed to the second stage, which requires a “in-depth investigation.” As part of this new development, Spencer has announced two ways for Xbox to expand, including the addition of Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles to Game Pass. Second, more games will be available on mobile platforms.
Players were concerned that the Call of Duty franchise would be hard-locked to Xbox due to the Activision Blizzard acquisition, enabling PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. However, Spencer has reiterated in this new statement that the company is “committed” to making the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation on launch day. While no specifics have been released, this could imply that any console-exclusive bonuses or cosmetic items will be shared by both platforms.
“We know this approach benefits players because we’ve done it with Minecraft, which is still available on multiple platforms and has expanded to even more since Mojang joined Microsoft in 2014,” he added. As Xbox expands its gaming storefront to more devices, it will continue to respect game developers’ decisions on how to distribute their games. Spencer stated in a tweet earlier this year that Sony was an important part of the gaming industry and that they wanted to maintain that relationship.
There are currently no details on when the Call of Duty lineup will be added to Xbox. Infinity Ward confirmed an open beta event for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remake earlier this month. The beta phase, which begins on September 18, grants early access to PS4 and PS5 players, with Xbox and PC players receiving access later in the week. While future Call of Duty titles will be released on the same day on both consoles, once this acquisition is completed, we can expect minor perks such as “early access” to be advertised exclusively on the Xbox front.
Another title that will benefit from the acquisition is Overwatch, a 6v6 team-based FPS that has been steadily losing players. Due to balancing issues and an overwhelming number of hero additions, most players migrated to other multiplayer FPS titles such as Valorant. Including it as a free title on Game Pass would be an excellent way to increase traffic. With Overwatch 2 on the horizon, we could see it arrive on Game Pass on day one as well. As Blizzard focuses on more mobile game launches, Diablo is also being added to the library.
However, there is no mention of World of Warcraft coming to Game Pass, though this could be due to the payment system. WoW operates on a monthly recurring subscription basis, with players required to pay a minimum of $14.99 (approximately Rs. 1,193) per month to keep it running. It will be difficult to integrate World of Warcraft with Game Pass because players may be asked to pay an additional fee on top of their Xbox subscription.
Earlier this month, court documents from the Microsoft-CADE trial revealed that the Xbox One sold less than half as many units as the PlayStation 4 over its lifetime. As of March, the PlayStation 4 had sold 117.2 million units, while the Xbox One had sold less than 58.6 million units. Since 2015, Microsoft has not released console sales data, instead focusing on Xbox Live numbers.
