Now that the Call of Duty franchise is owned by Microsoft, fans of the popular first-person series are wondering if COD games will be coming to Xbox Game Pass. Here’s everything we know about it.
Published on January 21st, 2022
The news of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard has shocked the gaming world on January 18, 2022. In what is the largest acquisition of the video game industry in history, the tech giant has acquired one of the largest video game publishers in the world for a staggering $70 billion.
This means that the iconic Activision-Blizzard franchises, such as Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk and Diablo, among others, are now under the Xbox umbrella.
The news is still fresh and many fans, industry experts and analysts are still processing this historic moment and what it will mean for the future of Xbox, Activision-Blizzard and their games.
The Call of Duty franchise, in particular, has struggled over the past two years, as Vanguard has sold less than expected and is still plagued by numerous problems several months after its release.
Warzone is still immensely popular, but the game itself is also suffering from bug and optimization issues, which are making the game almost unplayable at the moment for many players.
Now that Call of Duty is owned by Microsoft, many questions arise, and one of them is: will COD come to Xbox Game Pass?
Is COD coming to Xbox Game Pass?
Activision Blizzard’s lucrative franchises are now owned by Microsoft. (Image: Microsoft)
Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are Microsoft’s subscription services that provide unlimited access to more than 300 games, including first-day access to all Microsoft games.
And since Microsoft now owns Activision and the Call of Duty franchise, that means all future Call of Duty games are Xbox first-party games, which should be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
The official announcement more or less confirms this, stating that Microsoft will “offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
The statement further clarifies that this refers to both old and new Activision Blizzard games.
And while they haven’t specified which games exactly will be coming, we’re pretty confident that all future Call of Duty games will be available on day one on Xbox Game Pass, at no additional cost beyond your regular Game Pass subscription fee.
Microsoft’s ultimate goal is to make Xbox Game Pass as popular as possible and the acquisition of all these huge franchises will attract new subscribers to the platform that currently has more than 25 million monthly active users.
When is COD coming to Xbox Game Pass?
The Call of Duty games will probably arrive on Xbox Game Pass in the second half of 2023. (Image: Microsoft)
Although we are pretty sure that the Call of Duty games will be coming to Xbox Game Pass, that will not happen before the agreement between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard is completed, which should happen sometime in the second quarter of 2023.
This means that the rumored Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which should come out in the fall of 2022, will not come to Xbox Game Pass at launch, but the next Call of Duty game (COD 2023) will be on Game Pass on the 1st.
So there you have it, this is everything you need to know about the presence of Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass.
Featured image courtesy of Activision Blizzard/Microsoft.
