Call of Duty coming to Game Pass – With Microsoft winning the court battle with FTC, they are going one step closer to fully acquiring Activision Blizzard. Because of that, one might wonder whether Call of Duty Xbox Game Pass might actually be happening.
Previously, Xbox, through Microsoft, made a bid to purchase Activision Blizzard for a total amount of $69 billion. However, the dealing process was disrupted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as they are concerned that this acquisition will lead to anti-competitive behaviour to Xbox’s rival, the PlayStation from Sony.
Despite the 18 months lawsuit battle having come to a close, there are still various concerns from other parties such as the UK whether this decision will have consequences on the gaming market in the long run. Of that, both Sony and Microsoft have made a deal to address this issue.
“We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wrote on Twitter.
As confirmed by The Verge, the deal in question will last for at least 10 years. It is also emphasised that the said deal will only cover Call of Duty Franchiseー meaning that other games from Activision will not be part of the non-exclusivity. This aligns with other agreements that Microsoft has signed with Nintendo, Nvidia, and others.
Microsoft President, Brad Smith, also added, “From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before.”
With the signing agreement, both Sony and Microsoft agree to effectively dismiss the opposition to the acquisition process. The deadline for the deal is supposed to happen on 18 July 2023.
Is CoD coming to Game Pass?
Now that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, gamers might expect CoD Game Pass might actually be a real thing. After all, not long ago in our article Bethesda Bought by Microsoft as PlayStation Allegedly Attempts to Make Starfield PS5 Exclusive, Microsoft announces several of Bethesda’s titles to now be available on Xbox Game Pass after their acquisition.
Therefore, it is likely to be guaranteed that the Call of Duty Xbox Game Pass is coming. Whether it is older titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (MW2) or only newer ones might be unknown, however. As the nature of Game Pass, it is likely that Call of Duty (CoD) titles might also include its expansions which is why CoD MW2 battle pass might actually be possible by just subscribing to Xbox Game Pass coming soon.
When is CoD coming to Game Pass?
So far, there hasn’t much information about the exact date when Call of Duty Game Pass will be available. However, there is a hint dated back in May 2023 that it might not be available soon.
While Microsoft has won the FTC lawsuit, there is still currently an active court battle between Microsoft and UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The final report from CMA is written as follows:
“On this basis, we would expect that the benefits would start to accrue within a reasonable period (although there would, in practice, likely be some delay between completion of the Merger and CoD arriving on Game Pass in 2025). We therefore find that at least some benefit from the claimed Game Pass RCB may be expected to accrue within a reasonable period, such that the condition in section 30(3)(a) of the Act is satisfied”
With that, we can predict that Game Pass releases for the Call of Duty series might at least be available in 2025, 2 years after this article is published. With Game Pass, it should be possible for CoD to be shipped with its battle pass as well. This means Call of Duty battle pass such as battle pass MW2, Modern Warfare 2 battle pass, CoD MW2 battle pass, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 battle pass should become available as an option.
Bottom line
As Microsoft won over the FTC lawsuit, the likelihood of Microsoft finally acquiring Activision Blizzard might come closer and with Call of Duty being one of the biggest Activision assets, it raises questions about whether Microsoft will finally integrate them into its Game Pass program.
With how things pan out with Bethesda, where Microsoft brings various Bethesda titles to Game Pass, it is likely it might actually happen. However, the ongoing lawsuit with UK’s CMA hinted that it won’t happen at least until 2025.
If Call of Duty becomes available on Game Pass, Microsoft might also ship them with a battle pass as an option. Therefore, the MW2 battle pass release date for the Game Pass should follow the release of the CoD franchise to Xbox Game Pass in general.
