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.
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.”
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 paying $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.com.