Call of Duty will join Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has confirmed. A Microsoft blog post details that Activision Blizzard’s library of games will be available on the Xbox Game Subscription Service, once the acquisition deal is complete. The lineup will also include other quality titles such as Overwatch and Diablo. That said, Call of Duty will not be treated as an Xbox-exclusive title. Going forward, Call of Duty will launch on Xbox Game Pass, while maintaining a same-day PlayStation release.
The announcement comes after the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) – the UK regulator – concluded its initial investigation into Microsoft’s $68 billion (roughly Rs. 5,41,800 crore) takeover of Activision Blizzard. . The approval process has entered phase 2 and requires “thorough investigation”. As part of this new development, Spencer announced two means of expansion for Xbox, which include Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard titles joining Game Pass. And second: bringing more games to mobile platforms.
Due to Activision Blizzard’s acquisition, gamers feared the Call of Duty franchise would be locked on Xbox, allowing PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. But in this new statement, Spencer reiterated that the company had “committed” to making the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation on launch day. While there are no set details yet, this could mean that any console-exclusive bonuses or cosmetics will be shared between the two platforms.
“We know gamers benefit from this approach because we did it with Minecraft, which continues to be available across multiple platforms and has expanded even further since Mojang joined Microsoft in 2014,” he said. he adds. As Xbox expands its game storefront to more devices, it will continue to respect developers’ choice of how they distribute games. In a tweet earlier this year, Spencer noted that Sony is an important part of the gaming industry and they want to keep that relationship going.
Currently, there are no details on when the Call of Duty lineup will be added to Xbox. Earlier this month, studio Infinity Ward confirmed an open beta event for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remake. The beta phase – starting September 18 – grants early access to those on PS4 and PS5, while Xbox and PC gamers get access later in the week. While future Call of Duty titles will launch on the same day on both consoles, once this acquisition is complete, we might expect minor bonuses like “early access” announced exclusively on the Xbox front.
Overwatch – the 6v6 team-based FPS – is another title benefiting from the acquisition, which is steadily losing its player base. Balancing issues and the overwhelming amount of hero additions have caused most players to flock to other multiplayer FPS titles such as Valorant. Adding it to Game Pass as a free title would be a great way to regain traffic. With Overwatch 2 on the horizon, we might also see it release day one on Game Pass. Diablo is also being added to the library, as Blizzard focuses on more mobile game launches.
That said, there’s no mention of World of Warcraft coming to Game Pass, though that may have something to do with the payment system. WoW operates on a recurring monthly subscription basis, where players are asked to pay a minimum of $14.99 (roughly Rs. 1,193) per month to run it. It won’t be straightforward to integrate World of Warcraft with Game Pass, as players might be asked to pay an additional amount on top of the Xbox subscription.
Earlier this month, court documents from the Microsoft-CADE lawsuit revealed that Xbox One sold less than half of PS4 units in its lifetime. In March, the PlayStation 4 sold 117.2 million units, bringing Xbox One sales to less than 58.6 million units. Microsoft has stopped publishing console sales information since 2015, focusing instead on Xbox Live numbers.
Tech
