What just happened? Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been talking about the future of the brand, revealing two interesting bits of information: Xbox still intends for day one Activision Blizzard games to appear on Game Pass, which could include this year's Call of Duty; and it will continue to support physical games – for now.
Spencer confirmed that Microsoft plans for all its first-party Xbox games to come to Game Pass on the day they launch. In an interview with Game File, he said that covers the full portfolio of titles from Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax (which includes Bethesda, MachineGames, and iD Software), and Xbox Game Studios.
Xbox has already revealed that Blizzard's Diablo 4 will land on Game Pass on March 28.
Spencer never specifically mentioned Call of Duty coming to the service on day one, but it was implied. He said work was currently being carried out to add other existing Activision Blizzard titles to Game Pass. "We're doing the back end work to make them come to PC and console simultaneously," Spencer explained.
Call of Duty was a contentious issue during Microsoft's protracted $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. Fears that the popular franchise would be made a PC/Xbox exclusive worried regulators to the point that Microsoft signed a 10-year deal to keep the series on PlayStation. Sony still wasn't happy about the situation, forecasting a $1.5 billion loss by 2027 as a result of the merger.
Elsewhere in the interview, Spencer talked about the industry's shift toward digital media over physical. There were leaked plans for an all-digital version of the Xbox Series X (the Series S already lacks a drive) called Brooklin in September, suggesting Microsoft was getting ready to abandon disc drives altogether. While Spencer refused to talk about the console, which may arrive in November this year, he did say, "We are supportive of physical media, but we don't have a need to drive that disproportionate to customer demand."
Spencer added that "we ship games physically and digitally, and we're really just following what the customers are doing. And I think our job in running Xbox is to deliver on the things that a majority of the customers want. And right now, a majority of our customers are buying games digitally."
"But I will say our strategy does not hinge on people moving all-digital," he added. "And getting rid of physical, that's not a strategic thing for us."
Alan Wake 2 was released as a digital-only game last year, and Hellblade 2 will do the same in May. More evidence of this shift among console owners came in Sony's quarterly earnings, which showed the share of digital-edition sales had increased up to 66% compared to 62% the previous year.
https://www.techspot.com/news/101963-xbox-has-plans-day-one-activision-blizzard-titles.html
