In the wake of the news that Xbox is in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard for an impressive $68.7 billion, players are feeling tempted to become users of Xbox Game Pass. Research conducted by YouGov has revealed what it would take for players on other consoles to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass.
Since its creation in 2017, Xbox Game Pass has grown into something truly worthy of being called the best deal in gaming. MLB The Show 22 has just dropped on Game Pass on release day, being the latest title to get the Game Pass treatment at release. With the success of Game Pass in mind, the acquisition of Activision will only strengthen an already impressive roster of games.
YouGov built data from polling 2,400 adults, half from the United States and the other half from the United Kingdom. The data showed that 46% of both PlayStation and Nintendo gamers would consider subscribing to Xbox Game Pass if Activision titles were added to the service. In addition, the research found that 19% of US gamers would be swayed to join Xbox Game Pass by the inclusion of Call of Duty over any other Activision titles. Despite the latest entry in the series, Call of Duty: Vanguard, not being as well received as previous titles, the Call of Duty franchise is continuing to grow and expand.
One of the key things to take away from the data is that these responses come from players who currently own consoles other than an Xbox. Therefore, the deal to obtain Activision may not only cause an increase in the number of players subscribed to Game Pass, but also a rise in sales for the Xbox hardware required to take full advantage of Game Pass. This potential rise in Xbox console sales would come after record sales for the Series X and Series S consoles.
However, things are far from certain for the acquisition, with a spanner in the works coming in the form of an investigation into the workplace accusations at Activision. Along with worries about insider trading, US governors have also expressed concerns about how the planned acquisition could potentially exacerbate deep-rooted issues which have been revealed within Activision workplaces.
At the time of writing, Xbox Game Pass currently has around 25 million subscribers. It's safe to say that if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard does go through, it won't hurt the appeal of the subscription service.
Source: YouGov