Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard in a massive $70 billion deal, but that’s not the only big figure coming out of Xbox today. The ever-popular Game Pass service also passed a major milestone.
Xbox Game Pass has passed 25 million subscribers on console and PC. The news was attached to the Activision Blizzard welcome announcement, though it was understandably overshadowed by the acquisition itself. “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass,” said the post on Xbox Wire. “We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.”
Activision Blizzard’s catalog goes back decades, with the potential for dozens of titles to be added to Game Pass. Those additions are sure to bring even more subscribers into the service. Diablo, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft are just three of the major franchises coming under the Xbox wing.
The acquisition isn’t without its issues though. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is under fire for a series of harassment and toxic workplace reports under his purview and has reportedly said that he’ll leave the company if problems aren’t fixed. Meanwhile, Xbox boss Phil Spencer doesn’t want to “punish” companies for such behavior. Add those two statements to the fact that Kotick will remain onboard as head of Activision Blizzard after this acquisition, and you’ve got a recipe for some understandably unhappy folks on the internet.
Published: Jan 18, 2022 10:51 am