Well, it finally happened. As of October 13, 2023, Activision Blizzard (and King) officially joined the Xbox family. The acquisition that was years in the making and contested by Sony and the Federal Trade Commission has finally gone through, and now the question on everyone’s mind is how it will impact Activision’s biggest moneymaker, Call of Duty. To be more specific, many are wondering how this purchase will affect Call of Duty’s future on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation.
Since Microsoft/Xbox now owns Activision Blizzard, Xbox fans will obviously get to enjoy Call of Duty games for the foreseeable future. The question many Xbox gamers are asking at the moment is, “Will Call of Duty be on Xbox Game Pass?” The most accurate answer to that question is a big fat “maybe,” though recent updates have suggested that things are trending in a positive direction (depending on your perspective).
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According to the acquisition announcement page, Activision Blizzard is currently working to bring many of the company’s franchises to Game Pass, but the post doesn’t say which titles will come to the service or offer a timeframe for their debuts. However, a Twitter post (that was published before the deal went through) clarified that while Activision Blizzard doesn’t plan to bring Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV to Game Pass “this year,” the company anticipates porting its library to the service starting sometime in 2024.
The outlet Dexerto believes Modern Warfare III won’t launch on the Game Pass anytime soon due to an existing contract with Sony, but The Verge is a little more hopeful (at least regarding older Call of Duty titles). As that site notes, Activision Blizzard’s post was in response to a question regarding “upcoming and recently launched games,” and Microsoft recently fixed servers for several older Xbox 360 Call of Duty titles. So even if you can’t play Modern Warfare III on Game Pass, you might get to revisit Black Ops instead. Of course, the specifics of that arrangement remain to be seen.
