Game Pass should see a surge in subscriptions in the event that Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard actually goes through.
In a new post on the official Microsoft blog titled “gaming for everyone, everywhere,” Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed that his company intends to make Activision Blizzard’s “much-loved library” of games available through its Game Pass services. These include popular franchises such as Overwatch, Diablo, and even Call of Duty, which is getting a new installment later this year in the form of Modern Warfare II, a reboot of the 2009 classic.
Spencer shared the news in a portion of the post that explained how Xbox was “expanding choice”:
Game Pass empowers developers to bring more games to more players, not fewer. We intend to make Activision Blizzard’s much-loved library of games – including Overwatch, Diablo and Call of Duty – available in Game Pass and to grow those gaming communities. By delivering even more value to players, we hope to continue growing Game Pass, extending its appeal to mobile phones and any connected device.
The CEO goes on to confirm that future Call of Duty titles will also be available on PlayStation on launch day, further reducing fears that the franchise could become exclusive to Xbox and PC:
[…] we are committed to making the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation on the same day the game launches elsewhere. We will continue to enable people to play with each other across platforms and across devices. We know players benefit from this approach because we’ve done it with Minecraft, which continues to be available on multiple platforms and has expanded to even more since Mojang joined Microsoft in 2014.
Reviews of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard are ongoing, and it’s unclear whether the process might wrap up anytime soon.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority recently concluded its initial investigation, only to decide that the deal requires a more “in-depth” investigation, per an update regarding the merger inquiry published on GOV.UK.
Source: Microsoft