Ever since Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard back in January 2022, the gaming world has been awash with speculation around the impact of the proposed merger. Perhaps the hottest question amongst Xbox and PC owners is when Call of Duty games will be coming to Game Pass following the merger.
Activision Blizzard – one of the biggest video game publishers in the world – owns the rights to video game franchises such as Warcraft, Diablo, Spyro and, of course, Call of Duty. The latter is among the most popular series of games in the world and its yearly releases regularly top the annual sales charts.
At present, Call of Duty is available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Initially, the proposed merger sparked fears that the FPS titan could become exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms leaving PlayStation owners out in the cold. In a move to appease trade commissions, Microsoft pledged to keep CoD on PlayStation after the merger. In July, a new deal between Sony and Microsoft cemented CoD‘s enduring presence on PlayStation reassuring anxious fans.
Despite assurances that Call of Duty will continue to be available on PlayStation, Microsoft would retain the edge of being able to release all old and new CoD games on their Game Pass subscription service. And for Call of Duty fans on PC and Xbox, that would be a complete game changer.
When are Call of Duty games coming to Game Pass?
So, when are Call of Duty games coming to Game Pass? Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been rejected by regulatory bodies in both the UK and the US. This means that Call of Duty will not be coming to Game Pass just yet. However, ongoing developments (including court rulings and appeals) mean that Call of Duty games could land on Game Pass as early as August 2023 should the merger ultimately go ahead.
While the United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority initially rejected the merger, the game isn’t over yet. In fact, regulatory approval of the gigantic buy-out is looking increasingly likely.
On 11 July, the FTC’s temporary restraining order blocking the merger was lifted by a judge and an appeal was subsequently rejected on 14 July. This means that Microsoft are able to proceed with closing the deal. Following the decision, Microsoft and Sony agreed to a 10-year-deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for the foreseeable future.
In the UK, the CMA’s deadline for a decision on the merger was pushed back to 29 August 2023 in response to a new “detailed and complex” proposal submitted by Microsoft. Initially, it was expected that the CMA would formally block the deal on the original deadline of 18 July but Microsoft’s new proposal could sway the UK regulator in the other direction.
As of now, Microsoft’s bid to secure Activision Blizzard is yet to be formally closed. However, there seems to be a good chance that the gargantuan deal will be approved in the near future. All being well for Microsoft, Game Pass subscribers could potentially see the Call of Duty back catalogue land on Game Pass in August at the earliest.
When it comes to new CoD games, somewhat ambiguous wording in the official filing implies that they won’t arrive on Game Pass until 2025. There would “likely be some delay between completion of the Merger and CoD arriving on Game Pass in 2025”, it says. It is unclear if this extract refers specifically to new titles or the entire CoD back catalogue.
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