Highlights
- Xbox has officially acquired Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion, gaining ownership over all its associated studios, IP, and licenses.
- Xbox and Activision have begun work to bring Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass, although fans will have to wait a few months for announcements.
- Fans are eager to see classic Call of Duty titles, Guitar Hero games, and Blizzard's franchises like Diablo and StarCraft on Xbox Game Pass.
Officially announced on January 18, 2022, Xbox had been in the process of acquiring Activision-Blizzard for a total of 21 months, and now that deal has finally gone through. For an eye-watering $68.7 billion, Microsoft now has complete ownership over Activision, Blizzard, King, and all of its associated studios and all of its IP and licenses. While this deal has sparked no shortage of controversies and criticisms over the last almost two years, and the impact it'll have on the gaming industry is still unknown, it'll probably be a good thing for Xbox Game Pass at the very least.
In Xbox's statement announcing the official completion of the Activision-Blizzard deal, Phil Spencer himself confirms that Xbox and Activision have already started "the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass," though he also mentions that fans will hear about these developments in "the coming months," seemingly suggesting that Activision and Blizzard's franchises won't be coming to Xbox Game Pass for a little while yet. But in the meantime, it's fun to speculate on what might make it to the service first.
Activision Games That Should Come to Xbox Game Pass: The Entire Call of Duty Franchise
Probably the most requested Xbox Game Pass Activision addition is the entire library of classic Call of Duty titles. While it would be great to see the original three Call of Duty games come to Xbox Game Pass, it's really everything following those that players really want. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, World at War, Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2, and Black Ops 2 are all games that fans are desperate to see come to Xbox Game Pass as soon as possible.
Just recently, a lot of these classic Call of Duty titles had their online servers fixed on Xbox consoles, which caused a pretty big resurgence in their player-base. While this could have just been a spur-of-the-moment decision, many fans believe this was in preparation for these classic Call of Duty games to come to Xbox Game Pass. While Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 won't be coming to Xbox Game Pass for at least a year, there's nothing stopping those legacy titles from hitting the service in the coming months.
Activision Games That Should Come to Xbox Game Pass: Guitar Hero
While the last entry may not have been the smash hit that Activision was hoping for, there's still a pretty sizable fan-base for the Guitar Hero franchise, and that entire fan-base would go wild if the classic Guitar Hero games came to Xbox Game Pass. Though they're pretty cheap to pick up nowadays, having every Guitar Hero on Xbox Game Pass would make some nostalgic waves in the wider gaming community. If Activision and Xbox wanted to capitalize on a Guitar Hero resurgence even more, then it could even start reproducing some classic Guitar Hero controllers, as they're a little difficult to find in the wild nowadays.
Activision Games That Should Come to Xbox Game Pass: The Entire Blizzard Back Catalog
Admittedly a pretty tall order, it would be great to see at least some of Blizzard's biggest franchises head to Xbox and PC Game Pass in the coming months. While the most recent Diablo is apparently off the cards for at least a year, that doesn't stop the first three Diablo games from hitting Xbox Game Pass. On the PC side of things, it would be great to get all StarCraft games and expansions on Game Pass, along with some kind of World of Warcraft representation, whether it's just a free month-long subscription or some free expansions for the MMO.