In a recent interview, Microsoft said some Activision Blizzard titles will be Xbox exclusive, following the acquisition deal.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced they would be buying the World of Warcraft and Call of Duty developer Activision-Blizzard despite their recent legal troubles.
With this acquisition, some players worried about what this meant for the future of multi-platform franchises like Call of Duty, to which Microsoft explained they intended to honor current agreements with Sony in regards to Activision Blizzard IPs.
In a recent interview however, Microsoft suggested some future Activision Blizzard games will be exclusive to Xbox, to push their Game Pass subscription.
GM for programming and events Tina Summerford noted some games will become Xbox exclusives, which are speculated to be otally new games – not previous titles that are on PlayStation or Nintendo.
“We want to put as many titles as possible from Activision Blizzard into Game Pass when they join us,” Summerford said. Presently, Xbox Game Pass is a big deal for both PC and Xbox gamers, providing access to hundreds of games at the cost of a monthly subscription.
However this desire to make games Xbox exclusive and bring them to Xbox Game Pass doesn’t necessarily mean console exclusivity.
Many games on the program are available on both PC in addition to being available on Xbox. In fact, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty reaffirmed the company’s commitment to making games as widely available as possible.
“Ultimately what our goal is, is to make gaming more accessible to players and more accessible to creators. If we acquire a game that comes with a big community across a number of platforms, the last thing we want to do is take something away,” Booty said. “If anything, we feel that it’s our job to be caretakers, to be shepherds, to continue to build and nurture that community, not to cut it up into pieces and try to take some of it away.”
While Microsoft clearly has plans for Activision Blizzard on the Xbox Game Pass platform, nothing concrete has been decided or announced. Perhaps Microsoft will give Game Pass members a World of Warcraft subscription?
