During Microsoft’s bombshell announcement on Tuesday that it would acquire fellow gaming giant Activision Blizzard, Xbox head Phil Spencer declared that Xbox Game Pass would introduce a wealth of titles from the company to its catalog following the acquisition. “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass,” wrote Spencer in the blog post announcing the acquisition.
While Spencer did not specify which titles would be joining the service, he did express a desire to bring “both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog” to the service. Some of the Activision Blizzard franchises highlighted by Spencer’s blog post included Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. This is far from a confirmation that any of these titles will come to Game Pass, but it wouldn’t be shocking if a few of these heavy-hitting franchises ended up on the service.
The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023, according to Microsoft. Microsoft’s 2023 fiscal year will kick off on July 1 and conclude in June 2023, meaning we’ll likely hear more about Activision Blizzard’s presence on Game Pass between these dates.
As part of the announcement, Spencer also gave an update on Game Pass itself. To date, more than 25 million subscribers have joined the service.
Published: Jan 18, 2022 11:17 am