The first Activision Blizzard game to join Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IVand it is expected to land on March 28. This decision means Diablo IV will be playable on Xbox and PC at no additional cost for Game Pass members – of whom there are 34 million, Xbox announced today.
This is just the first step in Xbox's larger plan to offer Activision Blizzard titles in its monthly subscription service, now that Microsoft fully owns the studio.
“There will be even more to play as we begin to fulfill our commitment to offering Activision and Blizzard games with Game Pass, both new releases and classic games from its legendary catalog,” said the Xbox Wire bed. Xbox plans to share more information about other Activision Blizzard titles coming to Game Pass “soon.”
Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in October 2023, after nearly two years of antitrust investigations by American and foreign authorities. The deal was worth nearly $69 billion, the largest in Microsoft history. As part of negotiations with regulators, Microsoft agreed to unload streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games on Ubisoft, opening the door for their inclusion in Game Pass, Ubisoft+ and other cloud services.
In the United States, the FTC continues to investigate the acquisition and recently accused Microsoft has misrepresented its plans for Activision Blizzard following a series of layoffs in January that affected 1,900 employees across all gaming segments of the company.