So, Xbox owns Activision-Blizzard now, right? So why are Call of Duty and Diablo not on Game Pass yet? That's ⚽️ been a question on many people's minds lately now that Xbox's massive acquisition has finally closed. And today, Xbox head ⚽️ Phil Spencer showed up on the Official Xbox Podcast to try and answer it.
During the podcast, Spencer was questioned about ⚽️ the recent news that we wouldn't see a massive drop of Activision-Blizzard games on Game Pass immediately after the deal ⚽️ finalized, as many had expected. As it was pointed out, a major flood of Game Pass newcomers happened when Xbox ⚽️ acquired Zenimax. Twenty Bethesda games dropped onto the service just days after, including some of the company's biggest franchises.
Every Video ⚽️ Game Franchise Xbox Owns After Acquiring Activision Blizzard 70 Images
Where, then, are all the Activision Blizzard games? Why is this ⚽️ different?
Per Spencer: they're coming. Eventually. But the regulatory challenges surrounding this acquisition made it a bit trickier to navigate than ⚽️ the Zenimax deal, and adding games to Game Pass isn't as simple as flipping a switch to put them on ⚽️ there.
"The truth of the matter is with Activision/Blizzard/King that the regulatory process took so long, and frankly there was a ⚽️ lot of uncertainty in that process up until really a week before we closed, or the week of, when the ⚽️ CMA finally came down to their decision, that we weren't able to get in and work with mostly Activision-Blizzard in ⚽️ this case, on that back catalog work," Spencer says.
"So now that the deal is closed, we're starting that work, but ⚽️ there is work. And...the Twitter handle did put out something that talked about 2024, I think that's accurate. I would ⚽️ love it if there was some kind of secret celebration drop that was coming in the next couple of weeks, ⚽️ there's not."
“ So now that the deal is closed, we're starting that work, but there is work
Spencer went on to ⚽️ acknowledge that the lack of a celebratory, sudden drop was "a little bit of a downer" but reassured that the ⚽️ games are coming, eventually, including Diablo 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In the same interview, he also ⚽️ reiterated "100% parity" for Call of Duty across all platforms, including PlayStation, in keeping with Xbox's 10-year deal with Sony.
Xbox's ⚽️ acquisition of Activision Blizzard officially closed last week, with Xbox payingR$69 billion to fully absorb the giant gaming publisher after ⚽️ over a year of legal and regulatory battles in multiple countries.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a ⚽️ story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.
