Game Pass subscribers will have to wait until next year to play Diablo IV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on the service. Activision Blizzard has confirmed that it has no plans to add those games, or any other upcoming or recent releases, to Game Pass this year.
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Activision Blizzard is waiting for its acquisition by Microsoft to be finalized before adding its games to Game Pass. The acquisition is expected to close this month, and Activision Blizzard expects to start working with Xbox to add its games to the service sometime next year.
Microsoft announced in early 2022 that it was buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion and hoped to close the deal by June 2023. However, several regulators have moved to block the purchase over concerns that it would harm competition and stifle innovation.
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…— Activision Blizzard (@ATVI_AB) October 9, 2023
The European Commission rubberstamped the acquisition in May, but on the condition that Microsoft offers its games on other cloud gaming services. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal until the companies promised to sell “cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment… in perpetuity.”
In the US, courts denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) request to issue an injunction on the purchase, but the FTC announced in September that it plans to restart its in-house trial against the acquisition.
