Activision Addresses Game Pass Availability for Upcoming Titles
With the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition on the brink of completion, Activision has provided an update regarding the availability of its titles on Game Pass. According to the company, if the deal goes through, players should not expect Activision games on Game Pass until next year.
Historically, Activision titles have been absent from Game Pass, but it has been widely speculated that this would change following Microsoft’s $69 billion bid for the publisher of Call of Duty. Now that the deal is expected to be finalized this week, pending approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, the question has shifted from “if” to “when” Activision games will appear on Game Pass.
Activision addressed fan inquiries on social media, stating, “As we continue to work toward regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal, we’ve been getting some questions whether our upcoming and recently launched games will be available via Game Pass.”
“While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare 3 or Diablo 4 into Game Pass this year,” the statement continued. “Once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world. And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.”
To overcome regulatory hurdles and finalize the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft has agreed to sell the streaming rights for Activision’s titles to Ubisoft in the UK. The acquisition faced opposition from the Competition and Markets Authority in April, citing concerns about competition in the cloud gaming sector and the potential stifling of market growth.