There has been a ton of attention placed on Microsoft over its bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. The deal has yet to go through, as acquiring this company has been anything but smooth. Regulators are still going through the deal, and recently, Microsoft came out with a big win against the FTC. Their trial court case has ended as the judge sided with Microsoft over this deal. That might have sparked some interest in when we’ll start seeing some new Call of Duty titles landing on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. However, we were already given a heads-up on this during the CMA report.
While Microsoft might have come out with a victory over the FTC, the CMA final report that blocked the deal earlier this year made some notable reveals. For instance, we learned that Microsoft wouldn’t actually see the new Call of Duty games released on the Game Pass subscription service until 2025. It’s a friendly reminder from industry reporter Tom Warren today as the hype built up over the recent court case conclusion. The CMA reported that this is when we would likely see new Call of Duty games on the service when the merger is completed. Likewise, Tom Warren noted that this would line up with the end of Sony’s marketing deals.
So while we might not see new Call of Duty games released on Game Pass until 2025, that doesn’t mean we won’t see the backlog of titles land on the service beforehand. This should also spark a bit more interest in playing through the past installments and potentially revive some online matchmaking for these games while we wait for the next major installment to land on the Game Pass service. Regardless, the acquisition has yet to be completed as there is still the CMA Microsoft is working with to ensure they can proceed with the deal.
After the FTC lost its battle with Microsoft, the CMA and Microsoft agreed to pause the appeal process. While the CMA initially blocked the deal, Microsoft has since started an appeal process. But now it looks like both parties are hoping to discuss this deal and come up with any changes to appease the CMA while Microsoft is able to gain control of Activision Blizzard. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what comes from these meetings and if they land in favor of Microsoft.
