The long battle for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard is finally over. Ever since the Xbox team unveiled their bid to merge Activision Blizzard under the Microsoft umbrella, it was an ongoing process to appease regulators. Fortunately, the last big hurdle the Microsoft team had to overcome was done. Earlier today, we got word that the CMA has approved the deal, which means the process to bring Activision Blizzard into the fold has kicked off. But don’t expect an immediate slew of titles to land on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
During today’s Xbox Wire blog post, which was written by the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, we learned that it will be months before we get anything on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. But that shouldn’t be too surprising. Specifically, the post mentions that today, the team has started work to bring teams from Activision, Blizzard, and King under the Microsoft umbrella. That means there is work being made to ensure that some of their biggest franchises are added to Xbox Game Pass. However, Phil noted that you can expect more information about what you can play in the coming months.
Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms. We’ll share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months. We know you’re excited – and we are too.
Phil Spencer – Xbox Wire
There is certainly quite a bit of anticipation that some titles will be available on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. For instance, the biggest franchise out of this deal is Call of Duty. However, the Activision Blizzard X account has unveiled that they have no plans to put Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV into Xbox Game Pass this year. This post came earlier within the month, but it was also noted that Activision Blizzard was ready to start working with Xbox to bring their titles. It’s speculated that games will be added to the subscription service sometime in the course of next year.
So, we have some time to wait for some of the titles to land on Xbox Game Pass. However, it’s at least reassuring that Phil Spencer is quickly alerting fans that they can expect news of what’s coming in the next few months. That’s the same sentiment we received from Ubisoft, who unveiled that their Activision Blizzard cloud streaming games would land on their Ubisoft+ would be available soon, but it’s going to take time to ensure they have everything worked out on the backend before they can deliver the titles for their subscribers.
