Activision has revealed they aren’t going to be adding any of their games to Xbox Game Pass until next year. While the regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal is almost complete, the company’s initial plans are to make its games accessible to more players around the world.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 won’t be an Xbox Game Pass day-one release
Activision Blizzard told players that neither Diablo 4 nor Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be added to Xbox Game Pass this year, ending all hopes that gamers may have had over a day-one release for the latter title. The company further added that it is hoping to add its games to Game Pass “sometime in the course of next year.”
Despite the official statement, rumors claim that there will actually be a “bunch of Activision stuff” added to Xbox Game Pass as soon as the deal is finalized. Sources told Windows Central that “a ton” of games could be added to the service as early as next week, although these are expected to be older titles rather than the latest blockbusters. Earlier this year, the servers were fixed for legacy Call of Duty games which led to an influx of players, so these are potential candidates for a surprise release.
The Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal is expected to be finalized next week on October 18. Just today, the deal was approved by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission, following the precedent set by Japan and various nations within the European Union.
This success would finally bring months of delays to an end. Not only did the Federal Trade Commission sue to block the acquisition from going through, but the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also blocked the initial proposal. Following a revised plan that saw Ubisoft handed the cloud gaming rights to Activision games for the next 15 years, the CMA has given provisional approval for the merger.