More Activision Games Coming to Xbox Game Pass

Thus far, only one Activision Blizzard-published game has made its way to Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, almost a year after Microsoft finalized its deal to purchase the massive Call of Duty publisher. But a new report claims more Activision games will (slowly) start coming to the service in the near future. In January 2023, Xbox announced its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard King for a total of $69 billion, the largest video game industry acquisition in history. It took almost a year of court proceedings and hearings around the world before Microsoft was able to officially consume the publisher on October 13, 2023.

Now that the deal is finalized, Xbox owns a ton of franchises and games, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush. But so far, eight months after the deal was completed, only one Activision game-- Diablo IV --has made its way onto Game Pass. However, it appears more are finally on the way. According to a report by Windows Central on July 3, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is set to arrive on Game Pass in August.

The N. Sane Trilogy is a remake of the first three original Crash Bandicoot games and was released in 2017 to critical acclaim and big sales. It's also rumored, but not confirmed by the outlet, that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy are also planned to arrive on Game Pass after Crash, possibly later this summer. While I'm not a fan of the video game industry cannibalizing itself-- which often leads to less competition and more layoffs --at the very least it would be nice to get some free games out of it. So it's nice to see that finally, after nearly a year, more Activision titles beyond Diablo IV will be arriving on Game Pass.

The big question I have is: When will Xbox bring all of the Call Duty games to Game Pass? The majority of the franchise is already playable on Xbox Series X/S, assuming you own the games, so it's just a matter of Microsoft flipping the switch and making those games free for subscribers. I assume that as we get closer to the launch of Black Ops 6 on October 25--a game that is arriving on day one on Game Pass --we'll start to see some CoDs arrive on the service. For now, though, it seems like Xbox is taking its time bringing the Activision back catalog to Game Pass, which is a big departure from how it handled Bethesda's library of games after acquiring the Fallout publisher in 2021. Another Activision Blizzard game is possibly joining Xbox Game Pass soon, this time starring everyone's favorite orange bandicoot. More Activision-published games are headed to Microsoft's gaming subscription service.

That's according to a report from leaker eXtas1s on the eXputer forums, which indicates that the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will be coming to Xbox Game Pass in August 2024. Windows Central's sources can corroborate this information, meaning Xbox players can look forward to embarking on adventures with the Wumpa-seeking bandicoot in a few weeks. According to eXtas1s, the Tony Hawk 1+2 remake and Spyro Reignited Trilogy are also coming "very soon," though they can't confirm that these games will be added in the same month. The Crash Bandicoot N.

Sane Trilogy is a remaster of the original three Crash Bandicoot games -- which were first developed by a then-independent Naughty Dog -- that was handled by Vicarious Visions, a studio known for its remaster efforts that is now part of Blizzard Entertainment as the Blizzard Albany team. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was first brought to the PlayStation 4 back in 2017, before being ported to Xbox One, Windows PC, and Nintendo Switch in 2018. This will mark the second Activison Blizzard King title to join Xbox Game Pass since Microsoft's acquisition of the gaming company finalized in October 2023. The first game, Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo 4, was added to the service back in March.

Looking ahead, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is slated to launch day one into Xbox Game Pass when it launches on Oct. 25, 2024. More Activision Blizzard games in Xbox Game Pass will be cool, and I'm sure there's plenty of players who will be excited by this. While the dizzying breadth of genres that Xbox encompasses is extraordinarily comprehensive, family-friendly games are a weak spot that can often be overlooked, so having more family-focused games included in the lineup will be a great boon. I will say the rate at which these games are being added to the service is a bit surprising to me.

I understand that Microsoft doesn't want to simply have one massive wave where everything is added and that's it, but still, I definitely assumed we'd have seen a couple more games be included in Xbox Game Pass by now. All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards. At the current rate, it's going to be a long, long time before Activision's back catalog is place in the subscription service alongside the rest of the Xbox first-party lineup from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

Windows Central is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. (C)Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,BathBA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.