Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Suggests New Call of Duty Games Will Hit Game Pass Day One

21.02.2024 - 11:59 / ign.com / Phil Spencer / Bobby Kotick / Will

Will this year’s Call of Duty launch day one on Game Pass? Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested it will.

Speaking to Game File, Spencer said Microsoft plans for all Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax (Bethesda, MachineGames, iD Software, etc), and Xbox Game Studios games to launch on Game Pass “day one”. That means the games launch straight into the Xbox subscription service the same day they go on general sale.

“Our intent is the full portfolio of games from ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard and XGS — Xbox Game Studios — will be on Game Pass, day one,” Spencer said.

Microsoft has already announced the upcoming launch of Blizzard’s Diablo 4 into Game Pass, and there is a clear intent to get the Call of Duty back catalog into the library. But the suggestion new Call of Duty games launch straight into Game Pass as well is a somewhat surprising one, given Activision’s resistance to the idea in the past.

Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had stated he didn’t agree with "the idea of a multi-game subscription service as a business proposition." Then, speaking to IGN last year, Spencer responded to the opposing ideologies to say: "Well, there's a different person making the decisions.”

It's easy to see why Spencer would want new Call of Duty games to launch day-one on Game Pass — given their popularity they would no-doubt boost subscriber numbers. However, triple-A publishers have expressed concern about the impact on game sales. Sony, for example, currently does not release its first-party games day-one into its PlayStation Plus subscriptions, preferring to add them later on. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also remains unconvinced by Game Pass. Speaking during a financial call, Zelnick said of releasing big games day-and-date on a Microsoft's subscription service: "I still don't think it makes sense. And I believe that it's now becoming obvious that it doesn't make sense. It's just a lost opportunity for the publisher. So, I wouldn't want to speak for my friend, Phil [Spencer], but our views remain unchanged."

This year’s Call of Duty game is expected to be another entry in the Black Ops series and set in the Gulf War. Developed primarily by Treyarch, Call of Duty Black Ops Gulf War reportedly touches on the global political fallout after the Cold War. Expect a launch in October or November and, based on Spencer’s comments, straight into Game Pass.

For now, Spencer said work is being done to get existing Activision Blizzard games on Game Pass. “We're doing the back end work to make them come to PC and console simultaneously,” Spencer said.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].