Summary

  • It has been exactly one year since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King.
  • In that time, only two Activision games have been added to Xbox Game Pass — Diablo 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
  • A pre-existing deal between Activision and Sony might explain the startling lack of COD, but that deal appears to have ended given that Black Ops 6 will launch on the service day one.

It has been exactly one year since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard King in the record-breaking $75 billion merger. However, in the year since the deal went though, we haven't seen many of Activision's games added to Xbox Game Pass.

As reported in Eurogamer's thorough breakdown of the last 12 months, the only games added thus far are Diablo 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (unless you count Overwatch 2, but that's free-to-play anyway).

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Black Ops 6 launches later this month, which will mark the third Activision game to arrive on the platform, but that still leaves a startling lack of classic, backwards compatible games absent on the subscription service. Especially industry titans like the original Call of Duty games.

Why There Have Been No Classic COD Games On Game Pass

In 2022, Xbox said that a pre-existing "agreement between Activision Blizzard and Sony includes restrictions on the ability of Activision Blizzard to place Call of Duty titles on Game Pass for a number of years". Phil Spencer later stated that he spoke to Sony leadership, confirming that Xbox would "honor all existing agreements" following the acquisition.

This came to light after the CMA voiced concerns over the possibility that future Call of Duty titles coming to Game Pass would undercut full-price PlayStation sales. It's unclear how long the vague "number of years" restriction would be in place, or when it would end, but Modern Warfare 3 might give us a clue.

It was added to Xbox Game Pass eight months after its release. This seems to indicate that the agreement between Activision and Sony has now ended, further evidenced by the fact that Black Ops 6 will be added to the service when it launches, not at a later date.

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With that in mind, perhaps we'll see older games added to the service in the next 12 months, as the door has only just opened. Time will tell. Regardless, it's clear fans are itching to get back into Modern Warfare 2 and old school Zombies, and nothing would bolster the player bases of those originals like being added to Game Pass.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III Like Follow Followed First-Person Shooter Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 58/100 Critics Rec: 14% Released November 10, 2023 ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs Developer(s) Sledgehammer Games Publisher(s) Activision Engine iw 9.0 Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer Cross-Platform Play PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the 2023 remake of the 2011 classic first-person shooter, and rounds out the trilogy of updated games from Sledgehammer and Activision. It will directly follow Modern Warfare 2 in terms of plot, once again following the Price, Soap, and other members of Task Force 141.

Genre(s) First-Person Shooter Powered by Expand Collapse