Will Call of Duty titles come to Xbox Game Pass? Activision CEO reveals future plans

The fourth of the five-day hearing of the Microsoft vs FTC court case was concluded yesterday, and the future of Call of Duty and other Activision-Blizzard games is to be decided soon. The testimony has seen several witnesses from all included parties, including Sony, Microsoft, and Activision, with all having conflicting opinions over the situation.

Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision, has also spoken during the hearing and made his opposing thoughts clear about gaming subscription services after Microsoft expressed its desire to bring a majority of Activision and Blizzard games to the Game Pass in the future if the acquisition goes through.

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Will Call of Duty titles come to Xbox Game Pass after the Microsoft merger?

Microsoft is keen to take over Activision Blizzard and defend their case in the court of San Francisco, while Sony and the FTC are fighting against it. The hearing is set to conclude today, June 29, but the decision will be revealed later. Microsoft CEO, Xbox head, Activision Blizzard CEO, PlayStation head, and Xbox VP gave their testimonies in the hearing.

One of the most prominent conflicts of opinion was heard after Kotick was questioned about subscription services and whether Call of Duty would ever be added to any of them. Previously, Phil Spencer, Xbox head, has made clear that major Activision games will be added to the Xbox Game Pass as he believes it's beneficial for gamers and the industry.

[MEGATHREAD] Microsoft & Activision-Blizzard vs FTC discussion by u/ImAnthlon in GamingLeaksAndRumours

However, Kotick says that this business model negatively impacts games' finances as he compared the same to streaming services in the film industry, which seem to be bleeding money consistently. Although he did not refer to the Xbox Game Pass specifically, it was clearly implied.

"I have a general aversion to the idea of multi game subscription services. Maybe part of it is being in Los Angeles and having large, big media companies move their content to these subscription streaming services and the business results have suffered."

Furthermore, Sony's PlayStation chief also said that several game publishers "hate Game Pass" and describe it as "value destructive."

The possibility of Call of Duty coming to the Xbox subscription service plays a major role in the final result of the deal. As such, Microsoft may have to amend its plan of bringing major titles to the Game Pass.