With the approval of Microsoft’s efforts to acquire Activision Blizzard looking almost certain to close by next week, Activision Blizzard is beginning to discuss what might happen next in terms of its games and Game Pass.
The Activision Blizzard team shared an update via X (Twitter) today, responding to having received questions about what might come next, particularly with Microsoft Game Pass. With the deal still not yet officially closed, there are no solid announcements just yet, but there are a few details as to what might happen.
“It’s awesome to see anticipation building for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III. As we continue to work toward regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal, we’ve been getting some questions whether our upcoming and recently launched games will be available via Game Pass. While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare® III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world. And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.”
If the deal does close next week or anytime up through the October 18th deadline, then it will happen very close to the end of the year. While the deal could be finalized by UK regulators soon, there may be other details that need to be handled if and when the deal goes through. Even with that, Diablo IV is still a big game with a Steam launch happening soon and a new season to carry its momentum. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is still not released yet, so both of those not making their way to Game Pass straight away makes sense.
Yet, it does look like Activision Blizzard and Microsoft are setting the stage for which titles will be among the first sets to make their way over to Game Pass in 2024.