Call of Duty: Contemporary Conflict
Should it be successful in acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has reaffirmed its intention to add Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass, but UK authorities believe it may have more negative effects than positive ones.
Xbox head Phil Spencer outlined Microsoft’s goals in a blog post on the company’s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard. He said that Microsoft plans to add Xbox Game Pass to its lineup of key video game franchises from Activison.
According to Spencer, “We plan to expand those gaming communities and make Activision Blizzard’s beloved catalogue of titles, like Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty, available through Game Pass.” “By giving gamers even more value, we intend to increase Game Pass and broaden its appeal to mobile phones and any connected device,” the company said.
In its initial purchase announcement, Microsoft stated that it would add “as many Activision Blizzard titles as [it] could” to Game Pass. The extent of that assertion is confirmed by Spencer’s announcement, which also makes the further claim that adding Activision’s games to the Game Pass ecosystem will increase player choice.
“Subscription services like Game Pass help people throughout the world find their next favourite game and make gaming more accessible, “Spencer stated. “Game Pass gives creators the ability to reach more people rather than fewer with more games.
Additionally, he reaffirmed Microsoft’s commitment to “releasing the same version of Call of Duty on PlayStation on the same day the game debuts everywhere.” Since Microsoft acquired Bethesda last year, fans have been concerned that Microsoft may make the series exclusive to Xbox gaming platforms, like it did with Starfield.
However, Spencer doesn’t say whether other, less significant Activation games will also be cross-platform compatible. While Diablo, Overwatch, and other IPs might be added to Xbox Game Pass, there’s still a chance they won’t be available on PlayStation consoles.
A hard sell
Fans of the FPS franchise are extremely enthusiastic about Call of Duty’s likely transition to Game Pass. Should it proceed, users would have the option to explore the massive franchise at their own pace and maybe play every new game in the series when it first releases on Game Pass, all at no additional cost.
Spencer’s remarks on expanding player options, however, come after a report by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a government agency in charge of overseeing markets, that raises significant issues. It implies that the industry and customers could suffer as a result of the takeover.
The CMA is worried that Microsoft might hurt consumers by limiting Sony, its closest gaming rivalcapacity ,’s to compete if it had complete control over this potent collection, especially given its current dominant position in game consoles, operating systems, and cloud infrastructure.
It said that the combination is especially concerning given Microsoft’s tremendous influence in the IT and gaming industries. With the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, the corporation already holds a sizable portion of the console gaming industry. Xbox Cloud Game also has a strong hold on the emerging gaming streaming market, while Windows 10 and 11 are the most popular PC operating systems.
That combination of assets gives Microsoft a major advantage over potential rivals – especially in the streaming space. It can stream games to Windows PCs without having to pay expensive licensing fees, design new games and services using its existing heavyweight studios, and take advantage of the huge playerbase already locked into the Xbox console ecosystem. It reckons Microsoft has “an unparalleled advantage over current and potential cloud gaming service providers”.
“This could result in increased concentration in cloud gaming services or the market ‘tipping’ to Microsoft, and ultimately deny consumers the benefits of competition between new and emerging providers vying to succeed in cloud gaming,” the CMA said.
Despite Microsoft’s assurances, the regulator also raised concerns over Call of Duty’s Xbox exclusivity. While Microsoft might choose to keep the series cross-platform, it could impose other, more subtle access restrictions on other systems. Microsoft could well delay the release of Call of Duty content on PlayStation consoles, or impose higher pricing structures for games sold on Sony’s systems. That’ll hurt Sony’s profit margins, but is also bad news for PlayStation players who don’t want to buy into the Xbox ecosystem.
That’s to say nothing of the other major Activision Blizzard games Microsoft stands to acquire. overwatch 2 will be free to play, and is set to launch on October 4 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One,PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. While Spencer says it would move over to Game Pass, it’s unclear what that would really mean for an existing multi-platform game.
It could be a while yet before the deal is finalized and those kinks are worked out. The CMA will begin a fresh “in-depth Phase 2 investigation” off the back of its findings, while regulators in the US and other countries are yet to release any assessment, let alone give the deal their approval.