Now that Microsoft has owned Activision Blizzard for months, and put it under Xbox, the questions about Game Pass have only ramped up. A recent interview with Phil Spencer sheds some light on their plans, particularly with Activision Blizzard’s catalog.
This comes on the heels of the announcement that Diablo 4 would be making its Game Pass debut on March 28th. In the interview, by Stephen Totilo for his outlet, Game File, Spencer talked about the future, about recent job cuts, and how Activision Blizzard games will be part of the picture. The interview was conducted before Microsoft’s confirmation that it would bring four first-party titles to outside platforms. While the games haven’t been announced yet, Sea of Thieves is one of the top speculations for inclusion, along with games like Grounded.
As far as Activision Blizzard titles and Game Pass, Spencer talks more broadly about the company’s owned studios, but gives some hope about how things will start to shape up in the future.
“Our intent is the full portfolio of games from ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard and XGS—Xbox Game Studios—will be on Game Pass, day one,” he says. Although there is work already being done, which the Diablo 4 announcement makes clear, they're still work that they are doing to be sure that the Activision Blizzard game catalog, as new games are released, will make it to PC and console Game Pass on release.
Spencer says that they have to improve in finding new customers, citing static console ownership numbers and the need to branch out. Of course, the time after a nearly $69 billion acquisition (plus costs in the legal regulatory process to get the deal over the line), is one of adjustments, and this included around 1,900 layoffs in an already tough time in the industry.
