According to Spencer, Microsoft will be making “Activision Blizzard’s much-loved library of games - including Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty - available on Game Pass and to grow those gaming communities.” Earlier this year, Microsoft paid a hefty sum to buy Activision Blizzard, a move that was met with equal parts concern and optimism. Since then, we’ve found out just how big of a deal Call of Duty really is - apparently, Sony thinks highly of the marquee shooter franchise. Also, we’ve learned that the powers that be care a bit more about regulating stuff when several more zeroes are involved. For example, while Sony has had no problem closing its Bungie buyout, Microsoft is still dealing with the intervention of several governing bodies from the rest of the world. After a lengthy tussle with Brazil’s competition regulator, UK’s equivalent recently declared that it will look into the merger. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) argued that Microsoft could do the same to Activision Blizzard’s properties as it did with ZeniMax Media’s. It’s worth remembering that Microsoft officially became the new owner of ZeniMax Media last year. As a result, Microsoft is now free to do as it pleases to any property owned by the company, such as making Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 exclusive to the Xbox. It’s a legitimate concern that Spencer is trying to downplay with his latest statement. Here’s an excerpt of what Spencer said in his blog post, “Gaming for everyone, everywhere.” Make no mistake, Spencer isn’t feeling altruistic. It’s about the numbers. The Elder Scrolls as well as Starfield might lose half of their potential sales by becoming exclusive to the Xbox. But, let’s not kid ourselves. These two games combined don’t even come close to the pull that Call of Duty alone has. When you throw in IPs like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, Microsoft has every incentive to newer games in the aforementioned franchises available on all platforms. But, we can’t also deny that Microsoft is large enough to take the dive a move toward exclusivity might bring if there’s enough financial incentive. Don’t forget, we’re not just talking about five to ten years from now here - we’re talking in terms of decades into the future. In an ideal world, Spencer will live up to his promise for as long as he’s head of Xbox Game Studios, which will later become Microsoft Gaming. But, these things change, so we can’t guarantee that Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Starcraft, among many others, will never become exclusive to the Xbox platform. It’s all a matter of when and not if. Until then, we can at least celebrate knowing that the Game Pass will see hundreds of new titles as soon as the deal pushes through. Most likely, this will include older legacy games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360, as per earlier leaks.
