Microsoft has just made the deal of the century by buying one of the biggest video game heavyweights: Activision Blizzard. For the tidy sum of 60 billion euros, the American publisher and owner of flagship licenses such as Call Of Duty or World of Warcraft has joined the ranks of the Redmond firm. A question then arises: what games could join the Xbox Game Pass catalog?
Quite simply, it’s the biggest takeover in video game history. As you may know, Microsoft has just announced the acquisition for a colossal sum of 60 billion euros of a heavyweight in the video game industry: Activision-Blizzard. To give you an idea, this operation almost equals the amount put on the table by Disney to merge with 21st Century Fox.
After acquiring Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, in September 2020, Microsoft further strengthens its power in the gaming world with the addition of 14 studios under its banner, if not more. Indeed, the teams of Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob and Treyarch will join the ranks of the Redmond firm.
And by extension, the Xbox Game Pass catalog will necessarily benefit from this takeover, as announced by Phil Spencer, now at the head of the Microsoft Gaming division. “As soon as we close, we will offer as many Activision-Blizzard games as possible in Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, whether new titles or games from Activision-Blizzard’s incredible catalog. […] As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Xbox Game Pass.” assured the manager.
List of licenses that can arrive on the Xbox Game Pass
So what are the potential licenses now owned by Microsoft that could land on the Xbox Game Pass, whether in the form of existing opuses or new games? Let’s list these licenses together:
- Blur
- caesar
- call of duty
- candy Crush
- Crash Bandicoot
- Diablo
- DJ Hero
- Empire Earth
- Gabriel Knight
- Geometry Wars
- Guitar Hero
- Gun
- Heartstone
- Heroes of the Storm
- Hexen
- Interstate ’76
- King’s Quest
- Laura Bow Mysteries
- The Lost Vikings
- Overwatch
- Phantasmagoria
- pitfall
- PoliceQuest
- Prototype
- Quest for Glory
- Singularity
- Skylanders
- soldier of fortune
- SpaceQuest
- Spyro The Dragon
- StarCraft
- Tenchu
- TimeShift
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
- TrueCrime
- World of Warcraft
- Zork
With this acquisition, Microsoft finds itself at the head of 30 leading studios, if we count the previous entities that joined the group with the acquisition of Zenimax Media. The American giant is also offering itself additional capacities in terms of publishing and production in e-sports, as well as a major presence in the mobile gaming market with King, publisher of hit titles like Candy Crush. On this subject, moreover, we could very well see Microsoft launch an exclusively mobile version of the Game Pass which would allow access to the entire King catalog. The future will tell.
Source: VGC
