There's been some confusion online on whether or not Microsoft would start adding some of its newly acquired Activision Blizzard games to its Xbox Game Pass service a few days after Microsoft closed the deal to buy the game developer and publisher. Today, Microsoft's Xbox head Phil Spencer finally gave a definitive answer to that question, and unfortunately, it looks like we will be waiting for at least a few months more.
In the latest video edition of the official Xbox podcast, Spencer admitted that after Microsoft closed the deal to buy Bethesda Softworks in 2021, a number of its games quickly got put on Xbox Games Pass. However, that won't be the case with Activision Blizzard. he stated:
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 finally came down to their decision, that we weren't able to get in and work with the--mostly Activision and Blizzard, in this case-- on that back catalog work. So now that the deal is closed, we're starting that work. But there is work.
Spencer stated that Activision Blizzard's statement last week that we would see its titles on Game Pass in 2024 is accurate, He added:
There's no se-- 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.
Spencer admitted that not being able to quickly add its newly acquired games on Xbox Game Pass immediately "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."
The Xbox podcast interview is pretty far-ranging, with Spencer stating he will be traveling a lot in the next few days, visiting the King offices in Europe followed by a visit to California to Blizzard and Activision's offices. He also talked about some of the game franchises he would like people to rediscover like the Infocom text adventures like Zork or the games from the Sierra catalog like King's Quest. He stated:
Just because of my age, those things speak to me. Because they were moments in my gaming career, my gaming experience, that really meant something. And I love those.
It will be interesting to see how many of those old franchises could get a new life under the Microsoft Xbox banner.
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