After finally securing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is now bringing the company’s games under the Game Pass umbrella. Activision Blizzard titles will be heading to the Xbox Game Pass service, starting with Diablo IV this March.
Xbox president Sarah Bond announced the news in an official Xbox podcast today, with Diablo IV leading the charge on March 28, 2024.
“It’s all part of our commitment to make Xbox, the Xbox experience, and the games that we build, as widely available as possible, so now the 34M Game Pass members can all enjoy the fantastic experience of Diablo IV,” said Bond.
An expanding Xbox ecosystem
This was all tied up in a very anticipated update on “the Xbox Business” today, after many rumors that Microsoft would make more games multiplatform. Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed today that four games would be heading to other platforms. He declined to name which ones they were, though he did confirm two that aren’t going multi-platform yet: Starfield and Indiana Jones.
Additionally, Spencer and co. teased some hardware news on the horizon. In an interview with The Verge, the Xbox head didn’t comment on the Xbox leaks, but did say this:
“We’ll talk about things that are coming up. I will say I’m very proud of the work that the hardware team is doing, not only for this year, but also into the future. [We’re] really thinking about creating hardware that sells to gamers because of the unique aspects of the hardware. It’s kind of an unleashing of the creative capability of our hardware team that I’m really excited about.”
– Xbox head Phil Spencer, to The Verge
While today’s news isn’t necessarily drastic, seeing Activision Blizzard games finally make their way to Game Pass is good news for anyone holding a subscription. Diablo IV alone is some big bang-for-your-buck, and then there’s the prospect of seeing other titles from the massive publisher make their way over.
Diablo IV hits Game Pass on March 28, 2024.
