For years, Microsoft employees have enjoyed a perk that gives them free subscriptions to Game Pass Ultimate, and that benefit was on track to be discontinued until Xbox boss Phil Spencer stepped in and saved the day.
Xbox says not to expect surprise Activision Blizzard Game Pass drops this year
17.10.2023 - 21:49 / videogameschronicle.com / Phil Spencer
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said players shouldn’t expect the company to start adding Activision Blizzard titles to Game Pass soon.
Microsoft finally completed its $69 billion acquisition of the Call of Duty and Diablo publisher last week.
Two days after Microsoft acquired Bethesda in March 2021, it added a dozen of the company’s titles to Game Pass.
But in an interview with the official Xbox podcast, Microsoft’s head of gaming said players shouldn’t expect similar surprise drops of Activision Blizzard games on the subscription service in the near future.
While Microsoft was able to do a lot of the groundwork on bringing Bethesda titles to Game Pass prior to the deal closing, that hasn’t been the case with Activision Blizzard, as it wasn’t clear if the acquisition was going to be approved by competition regulators until recently.
Activision Blizzard said prior to the deal closing that it expected to start adding its titles to Game Pass in 2024.
“I think that’s accurate,” Spencer said. “I would love it if there was some kind of secret celebration drop that’s coming in the next couple of weeks – there’s not.
“Definitely when we think about the new games that are there, I would be straight with people, right. If we were going to put them in the subscription this year, I would tell people.
“And I know there’ll be some disappointment about that. This acquisition is definitely long-term. So the fact that we’re not hitting day one with a bunch of games dropping in to Game Pass is a little bit of a downer, but I’m very excited about the future. And I just want to be straight with people that that’s where we are.”
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