Microsoft’s imminent acquisition of Activision Blizzard means the newest Call of Duty and Diablo games could arrive to Xbox Game Pass as soon as next year.
On Monday, Activision Blizzard mentioned the timeline, noting “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 III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world,” the company said in a tweet. “And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.”
In other words, it looks like Activision Blizzard wants to first maximize game sales for Diablo IV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III before bringing them to Xbox Game Pass, where they’ll become free-to-play for subscribers. In June, the studio launched Diablo IV, which has since reached over $666 million in game sales. Next month, Activision then plans on releasing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, another AAA title that’s been projected to raise hundreds of millions in sales.
So if you’ve been eager to play either game this year on Xbox Game Pass, tough luck. Still, Microsoft has said all along it plans on using Activision Blizzard’s various franchises to bolster Game Pass. So perhaps future Activizion games could feature a same-day launch on Microsoft’s subscription platform, like Bethesda’s Starfield did.
In the meantime, Blizzard has for the first time has begun bringing some of its PC games to Valve’s Steam store. In August, the studio started offering Overwatch 2. It now plans on releasing Diablo IV on Steam next week on Oct. 17th.
According to The Verge, Microsoft could finalize its acquisition of Activision Blizzard as soon as this Friday, depending on an upcoming ruling from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
