In the future, it may no longer be necessary to buy Blizzard games as full-price titles if you want to play them. Because Microsoft announced on September 1 that it would add Activision Blizzard games to the Xbox Game Pass, its “flat-rate gaming” subscription. It explicitly mentions Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty. The new games from the Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 franchises are apparently set to land in the Game Pass. But what about World of Warcraft?
This is the situation:
- Microsoft made a takeover offer to Activision Blizzard in January 2022, which the board accepted. Some speculate that CEO Bobby Kotick is trying to save his own skin with the sale, as he has been in hot water following a sexism scandal.
- However, for the deal to go through, both companies need approval from regulatory authorities worldwide. There is a risk that Activision Blizzard and Microsoft are so large that a dominant market player would emerge, negatively impacting the market. Sony has already criticized the deal.
- Xbox has now explained in a post how it views the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The Diablo franchise is set to come to the Xbox Game Pass – Diablo 4 is planned for 2023:
Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty are coming to the Xbox Game Pass
This is what Xbox says: In a post by Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, it states on September 1 (via blogs.microsoft):
Subscription services like Game Pass make playing more affordable and help players from around the world find their latest favorite game. Game Pass allows developers to bring more games to more players, not fewer players. We intend to make beloved games from the Activision Blizzard library – including Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty – available in Game Pass and to grow their gaming communities.
Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox
Will the games come to Game Pass on release day?
What does this mean for players? Blizzard is currently developing two hot new titles with Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4. Based on the statement, one can assume that these titles will end up in the Xbox Game Pass:
- With Overwatch, that’s a certainty – because Overwatch can only refer to Overwatch 2, as Overwatch 1 will be phased out in the new game at release.
- With Diablo, Spencer likely only means that Diablo 4 will come to the Game Pass if he talks about expanding the “gaming community.” Diablo 3 and Diablo 2 Resurrected are also candidates for a release in the Xbox Game Pass.
- Call of Duty from Activision is also a candidate for the Game Pass.
For Blizzard fans, once the purchase by Microsoft is complete, it will likely no longer be necessary to buy these games individually. Instead, players can also get the Xbox Game Pass, a kind of “flat-rate gaming.”
This should allow the games to reach a large audience, as history has shown that players are willing to try out many titles for free – including games that may not belong to their favorite genre.
The question is: Will the new games from Blizzard be available on Day 1 in the Game Pass or only after a few months of delay?
What about WoW? The subscription-based MMORPG World of Warcraft is not mentioned by Spencer, so it seems that it will continue as before.
Xbox assures that games will continue to be available on all platforms
What else does the post say? The post is also a sort of “We’re not bad, believe us” posting. Because Spencer thoroughly assures that they do not intend to withhold any games from any platform. The games will continue to be released on consoles like the PlayStation 5.
This seems to be an attempt to counter Sony’s objections, which they cited as grounds against the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft: Call of Duty is such a unique game that imbalances in the market could occur if Xbox takes over the franchise.
Spencer assures that they want to bring games to all players. They have proven this with Minecraft.
Spencer even highlights Sony and Tencent (LoL) as industry leaders.
Xbox had already reacted somewhat sarcastically to Sony’s objection:
