Microsoft has a strong presence in the Xbox gaming industry. The acquisitions of Zenimax (Bethesda) and Activision / Blizzard / King have resulted in them having more studios than they can handle and more games than they can manage. And of course: what will they do now with the highly successful Call of Duty franchise?
A new report suggests that there has been a debate within Microsoft about whether the new versions of Call of Duty should be available as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
The information comes from Tom Warren of The Verge, who reports that the debate “has been ongoing internally for quite some time” and focuses mainly on the concern that “the revenue that Call of Duty generally generates for Activision Blizzard is undermined by [Xbox] Game Pass.”
The dilemma of adding CoD to Game Pass to gain more subscribers or make more money
This revelation seems to contradict previous messages from Microsoft, as they have been assuring players that they should expect to see more important titles like Call of Duty coming to the service. For example, in a special edition of the official Xbox Podcast published in February of this year, the company expressed their desire to bring “both new releases and classic games” from Activision Blizzard to Xbox Game Pass.
The possible inclusion of Call of Duty games in Xbox Game Pass was one of the main reasons why some expressed their strong support for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, owner of Call of Duty, which was finalized in October of last year after a prolonged period of scrutiny by regulatory bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom.
Although it is unlikely that this news will enamor many current Xbox Game Pass subscribers, it adds to a week of disastrous headlines for Microsoft.
It began with the surprise closure of several studios, including Tango Gameworks, the developer responsible for the acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush. Arkane Austin also closed, apparently just before the release of a major update for their troubled first-person shooter (FPS) Redfall.
The closure of Arkane Austin was accompanied by the announcement that the development of the game had been halted, abandoning the promised downloadable content (DLC) Hero Pass that could be acquired as part of the premium edition of the game “Bite Back Edition”
Although Microsoft has announced a compensation plan for players who had the misfortune of purchasing this content, there are very few concrete details about what this actually means.
