Summary
- Xbox Game Pass offers a wide variety of games for every genre, but its biggest draw is arguably AAA franchises.
- Despite Call of Duty being one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world, it has never come to Xbox Game Pass due to legal and business complications.
- With Xbox's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard nearly finalized, it would make sense for Call of Duty to be on Xbox Game Pass, especially since older titles could be added while new ones are restricted until 2025.
The greatest appeal of Xbox Game Pass is that it always has something for everyone. No matter what genre the player is into, Xbox Game Pass will always have something to play. Game Pass has it all ready to go at just the touch of a button. But while Xbox Game Pass thrives on being a collection of every type of game, there's no denying that its biggest draw is big AAA franchises.
Though Indie games are a vital part of Xbox Game Pass' yearly cycle, it's the big AAA games that really grab the attention of subscribers. Xbox Game Pass' July offerings are the perfect example of that. Although great Indie games like The Wandering Village and Arcade Paradise have hit Game Pass this month, Grand Theft Auto 5 is the biggest draw for Xbox Game Pass right now. Big franchises are incredibly important gets for Xbox Game Pass, and there's one huge franchise that's absence doesn't make a lot of sense anymore.
It's Time Call of Duty Was on Xbox Game Pass
Call of Duty is one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world, and it's been that way for almost two decades now. Though its first few entries were great, Call of Duty really hit the big time in 2007 with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and since then, the franchise has only continued to grow in popularity. With Call of Duty being such a huge franchise still, it would only make sense that Xbox would want the series to come to Game Pass in some capacity, but it's not quite as simple as that.
If the recent Microsoft FTC court hearings have taught gamers anything, it's that there's a lot of legal and business stuff that goes on behind the scenes of the most successful franchises and publishers. Such business dealings and legality is likely the reason why Call of Duty has never come to Xbox Game Pass, but that seems like it wouldn't be a problem at this point.
Xbox's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is slowly crawling its way to the finish line, and though it's just asked for an extension on the deal to try and smooth things over with the CMA, all signs seem to suggest that the deal will go through, maybe soon. So, with the acquisition potentially almost done, it doesn't make sense for Call of Duty to not be on Xbox Game Pass.
Of course, new Call of Duty games legally aren't allowed to come to Xbox Game Pass until 2025, but there's nothing in the rules stating that older Call of Duty titles can't come to the service, and it's the perfect time for that to happen. In the last few weeks, classic Call of Duty titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops have seen a big resurgence in their player count. Xbox could kill two birds with one stone here, adding classic Call of Duty titles to Xbox Game Pass to not only cash in on the current hype for old titles, but also give Xbox Game Pass subscribers a tease of what's to come in the future once the Activision-Blizzard deal is all done and set in stone.
Call of Duty's current absence on Xbox Game Pass also really doesn't make a lot of sense when Sony's current approach is taken into consideration. In PlayStation Plus' July offerings, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was given as one of the free games of the month. If PlayStation Plus can offer one of the newest Call of Duty titles, then Xbox Game Pass should be allowed to add at least a handful of classic Call of Duty titles to its own subscription service.