Activision expects to begin adding Call of Duty to Game Pass in 2024

Activision Blizzard has announced plans to add Call of Duty and its other franchises to Xbox Game Pass next year, following the completion of Microsoft's acquisition of the publisher.

The details:

• Activision Blizzard issued a statement on its X account in response to fan questions about the future of its franchises now that Microsoft's acquisition appears to be almost guaranteed. “As we continue to work toward regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal, we’ve been getting some questions about whether our upcoming and recently launched games will be available via Game Pass,” the statement reads. “While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world. And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.”
• Last year, Microsoft announced its intention to bring Activision titles like COD, Diablo, Overwatch, and others to Game Pass, to expand the already popular subscription service's appeal to "mobile phones and any connected device." Although the company intends to make the franchises available on Game Pass, Xbox head Phil Spencer clarified that this does not mean they will become Xbox exclusives and that Microsoft is "committed" to making COD available on PlayStation from day one.
• If and when Activision's titles are added to Game Pass, subscribers will be able to play them for a monthly fee that is a fraction of the full price of a single game, which will also open console COD up to mobile devices via its cloud gaming service. To get the deal approved in the UK, Microsoft agreed to sell the cloud streaming rights for Activision titles to Ubisoft, which means the publisher's games will also be available on rival cloud services.

More gaming news:

• Naughty Dog is reportedly working on The Last of Us 2 Remastered. One of the studio's artists claimed on their LinkedIn profile to have worked on the environment art for 2022's The Last of Us: Part I, as well as "The Last of Us 2: Remastered.”
• CD Projekt Red employees have joined other Polish gaming industry workers in unionizing after the studio went through three waves of layoffs in three months, including recently laying off 9% of its workforce.