Starting in 2025, new Call of Duty games could be coming to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service on day one. Microsoft's acquisitions in recent years have been about securing console exclusivity for Xbox, but more importantly, securing day one games for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Gamers can have enough Call of Duty Points ready to play.
Call of Duty has been the best-selling game almost every year for nearly two decades, so rightfully locking it down as the first game could mean a lot for Xbox Game Pass. Such a franchise could create all sorts of new Xbox Game Pass users, which is undoubtedly a big reason why Microsoft wanted to buy Activision Blizzard King in the first place (as well as mobile content as part of King).
Now that the judge has ruled in favor of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, fans may be wondering when the new Call of Duty game will hit Xbox Game Pass on day one. however, anyone hoping for that to happen with a Call of Duty game in 2023 will be disappointed. Due to an existing agreement between Activision and Sony, the first Call of Duty game to be released on Xbox Game Pass will most likely be a 2025 launch. As of the time of writing, there is no information on the project, but based on established patterns, a 2025 Call of Duty game will almost certainly be developed by Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward.
This means that even if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through as expected, fans shouldn't expect to be able to play a 2023 Call of Duty game or a Treyarch-developed 2024 Call of Duty game through the Xbox Game Pass service on day one. On the bright side, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will bring all older Call of Duty games to Xbox Game Pass, which is especially exciting considering that many of them are backwards compatible.
In fact, almost all of the major series of Call of Duty games are available on the Xbox One and Series X consoles through the backwards compatibility program. The only exception is the original Call of Duty. Since classic Call of Duty games like Black Ops 2 still sell for $50, purchasing them on Game Pass should be a big deal.
So while Xbox Game Pass subscribers may have to wait until 2025 to get a brand new Call of Duty game as a day one Game Pass game, they'll likely be able to enjoy older CoD games shortly after the deal is finalized. See wokgold.com for more details on the game guide.
