Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard surely hit its fair share of roadblocks in the approval process, but at long last, the deal was formally closed last week, with Microsoft officially welcoming Activision Blizzard King to Xbox. A deal of this magnitude is obviously going to have a significant impact on the industry for years to come, but where the immediate future is concerned, many will be hoping to see games in the Activision Blizzard back catalog being added to the Game Pass catalog.
It turns out, however, that the wait for that will stretch on into next year. Speaking during a recent podcast uploaded by the official Xbox channel (which you can view below), Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said that unlike with 2021’s ZeniMax acquisition, which was promptly followed by a number of Bethesda titles being added to the Game Pass library, Activision Blizzard’s back catalog won’t be making that jump until a little later.
“When we finished Bethesda, there was this great moment. We were able to put a bunch of the back catalog games [on Game Pass] and celebrate their history,” Spencer said. “The truth of the matter is, with Activision Blizzard King, that the regulatory process took so long, and frankly, there was a lot of uncertainty in that process up until really a week before we closed, or the week of, when the CMA [Competition and Markets Authority] finally came down to their decision. We weren’t able to get in and work with mostly Activision and Blizzard in this case on that back catalog work.”
Spencer said that though that work is now “starting”, it will take some time to get it over the finish line, which means Activision Blizzard titles are unlikely to be available to Game Pass subscribers before next year.
“Now that the deal is closed, we’re starting that work,” he said. “But there is work. And I think the Activision Twitter handle, or X handle, whatever we’re calling it, did put out something that talked about 2024. I think that’s accurate. 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.”
While Spencer acknowledges that Activision Blizzard titles not being available on Game Pass right out the game is disappointing, he says this acquisition is focused on the long-term, which is something that he’s “very excited about.”
“When we think about the new games that are there, I would be straight with people,” Spencer said. “If we were going to put them in the subscription this year, I’d 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 into 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.”
Following the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty company, it was confirmed that controversial Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will be leaving his position at the company after the end of this year. Read more on that through here.