[Update 10/10] Sources close to WindowsCentral are claiming that Activision-Blizzard could very well start adding some of its titles to Game Pass as soon as the deal closes. According to WindowsCentral's Jez Corden, these titles will likely be the older games from the publisher.
I think it'll be older titles yeah, but they might want to be a little more careful with newer CoD titles where the business model revolves around the $70 annual fee.
— Jez (@JezCorden) October 9, 2023
[Original story] Activision-Blizzard has said that it expects that it will start adding games to Game Pass sometime in the course of 2024.
That's what the publisher said on Twitter just now. In the official Activision-Blizzard Twitter account tweet, the publisher expressed to be pleased with the hype around the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. In addition, the publisher used the tweet to answer some questions about the company's recently launched and upcoming titles and their availability on Microsoft's subscription service once the Microsoft Activision-Blizzard merger closes.
Although both Diablo 4 and the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III aren't being added to the service this year, Activision-Blizzard did say that it plans to it will start adding games to the service next year. "It’s awesome to see anticipation building for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III", the tweet reads. "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."
The publisher added, "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. And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year."
Although the tweet doesn't mention which titles Activision expected to begin adding to Game Pass over the course of 2024, it's likely that these titles will include Call of Duty titles (once the deal finalizes).
As covered some days ago, Microsoft is expected to close the megadeal later this week on Friday the 13th (yeah, no kidding). Back in August of this year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that Activision-Blizzard games won't be on Game Pass immediately after completion of the merger. "People think the deal's gonna close and everything's available on Game Pass", he said in an interview with IGN when answering a question about Call of Duty titles being added to Microsoft's service. "That's not true. There's work for us to go through, just mechanical work. It will take us time to get the games up."
If the deal between Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard closes, which titles from Activision-Blizzard would you like to see on Game Pass first next year? The older Call of Duty titles or the more recent ones? Perhaps we can see some of the older titles being added and benefiting from Xbox's FPS boost tech.