These Activision Blizzard games need to come to Xbox Game Pass this year

In October 2023, Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and by the end of the year, the latter company’s CEO had departed. Now, this will be the year where we’ll see how Activision Blizzard functions when fully integrated into Microsoft. The most immediate change for those who play games will likely be Activision Blizzard titles coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service.

Microsoft and Activision have explained that because of the tribulations the acquisition encountered, it was impossible to have Xbox Game Pass additions prepared almost immediately after the acquisition, as it did with ZeniMax Media. In the coming months, I expect we’ll finally start to see Activision Blizzard games trickle onto the service, even if we shouldn’t expect it from this week’s Developer_Direct. As Activision Blizzard is one of the oldest game publishers out there, having released hundreds of games, there are plenty of titles to choose from. I’ve cherry-picked the ones I want to see most.

Diablo IV

Diablo IV should be the first Activision Blizzard game to come to Microsoft’s gaming subscription service. Although I already own the game, I recognize that this lengthy RPG would be a fantastic fit for the service for multiple reasons. RPGs are perfect for Game Pass because they add tons of value to the subscription and remove the risk of players spending money on a lengthy game they don’t like. Diablo IV being on Game Pass would also make setting up multiplayer with friends easier, as you wouldn’t need to buy the game. Xbox Cloud Gaming can enable a portable option outside the niche handheld PC space. Whenever Microsoft drops Activision games on Xbox Game Pass, expect Diablo IV to be the headliner.