The Future of Bobby Kotick’s Activision Blizzard: Overwatch 2 Coming to Xbox Game Pass

When the news broke in early 2022 that Microsoft wanted to acquire Bobby Kotick’s Activision Blizzard through a $68.7 billion all-cash deal, gamers and individuals in the industry wondered if the result would mean greater access to popular games across a range of platforms. Microsoft recently confirmed that was indeed the case. The multinational technology corporation revealed what to expect from its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. 

During a 90-minute event in Los Angeles, Microsoft revealed that dozens of new games are coming to the Xbox Game Pass, including Blizzard’s first-person shooter Overwatch 2. However, gamers will have to wait until October for that title to enter early access with a free-to-play multiplayer mode. Microsoft also announced that the latest installment of a popular Activision Blizzard franchise, Diablo IV, will be available in 2023. 

Before Microsoft set its sights on acquiring Bobby Kotick’s Activision Blizzard, it purchased American video game holding company ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion in 2020. As a result, two of its biggest games, Redfall and Starfield, will be released on the Xbox Game Pass in 2023. Redfall is a first-person shooter game that pits players against vampires, while Starfield is a role-playing game that takes place in outer space. 

Usually, the corporation does a presentation during the annual E3 trade show, when the biggest names in video game development offer a preview of new and upcoming titles and projects. However, since the E3 event was canceled and other publishers such as Sony and Ubisoft declined to present their projects, Microsoft chose to spotlight advances coming to its streaming service.

What Is the Microsoft Xbox Game Pass? 

The Xbox Game Pass gives users unlimited access to an ever-expanding list of hundreds of titles. According to Microsoft, as of January 2022, it had 25 million subscribers paying at least $10 monthly for the Game Pass subscription service.

In addition to the games developed and published by Bobby Kotick’s Activision Blizzard, Microsoft debuted a fresh take on Minecraft called Minecraft Legends, and Pentiment, a medieval narrative adventure game from Microsoft-owned video game developer Obsidian Entertainment. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, “Although the game has no combat and will likely have niche appeal, it may be a good fit for Game Pass, where experimental games can flesh out the lineup without necessarily needing to sell blockbuster numbers.” It also offered a preview of Ravenlock, an action-adventure game, and Cocoon, an adventure game that, like all the games, will be available to play on the Game Pass the same day they’re released.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Talks Microsoft 

During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Bobby Kotick and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer discussed Activision’s connection to Microsoft. “We’ve had a partnership with Microsoft that goes back to the launch of the Xbox,” Kotick said. “We’ve had many conversations over the years about various forms of collaboration, and as we’ve started to see the real competition. And in that race for the metaverse, it started to become apparent that there are a variety of resources and talent that we needed in order for us to be able to continue on that journey. And so, as Phil and I started to have those conversations, we realized that now was a perfect time for a combination.”

Spencer stated, “As Bobby said, we talk all the time about the future of this amazing business. There are three billion gamers on the planet today, people playing in all regions, creators coming from everywhere, and we’re always sharing our strategy with our partners and talking to them about their feedback. I think we’ve always just had a good connection with the team at Activision Blizzard about where we’re trying to go.”

It could be an asset to the expanding subscription service. “As Bobby said, when we look at the competitive set that’s out there, we look at the importance to us at Microsoft gaming of people playing on mobile. We look at the coming metaverse. We really saw this as an amazing opportunity because of gaming’s continued growth over the years. Microsoft’s big on gaming, we’re continuing to invest here, and we see it as a real strong catalyst for us in the consumer categories,” said Spencer. 

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Created on Jun 24th 2022 11:53. Viewed 153 times.

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