There’s been plenty of excitement over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We’ve been watching the back and forth on this purchase for what felt like ages. Microsoft had to appease the different regulators to ensure they could proceed with this purchase. However, it wasn’t until recently that the company received the last approval required to go forward. The CMA gave the thumbs up, and now Activision Blizzard’s merger deal is finalized, and the massive names in the video game industry are now under the control of Microsoft. With that said, there were plenty of rumors and speculation that we would start seeing some games like the Call of Duty franchise on Xbox Game Pass. That’s not going to be the case for a little while.
If you were hopeful that Microsoft would at least go back and deliver some past Call of Duty games onto Xbox Game Pass for October, prepare for disappointment. It was speculated that some Call of Duty games would be available through the second-wave offerings for the month of October. As you might already be aware, each month, there is a selection of video game titles added to Xbox Game Pass. With Microsoft closing on the acquisition deal prior to wave two for this month, it was speculated we would see some of the games from Activision Blizzard show up even if they were not the most recent title releases. After all, it wasn’t long after the Zenimax Media purchase that Microsoft brought some of its games into the service.
Unfortunately, the second wave came with no Activision Blizzard titles featured on the list. Furthermore, we waited around for a potential surprise drop afterward in case these games would show up outside of the wave two reveal. Again, that didn’t happen, and now, thanks to the VGC, we’re finding out the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, recently confirmed on an Xbox Podcast episode that we wouldn’t see any games right away.
Phil noted that he would love it if there were some kind of secret celebration drop in the next couple of weeks, but that’s not the case. So it’s a bit of a downer moment, but at least Phil Spencer wants to be straight with everyone. The games are coming, but it’s going to take the company a bit more time before they are able to get them on the service. It could be due to regulators not immediately approving the deal, which might have halted the idea of getting these games up within 2023. We don’t have a specific timetable on when we can expect Activision Blizzard titles, but it should hopefully be relatively early into 2024.
