Call of Duty fans think Game Pass release is coming soon after finding “peculiar message”
ActivisionPlayers have noticed some interesting small print when purchasing Call of Duty games on the Xbox Store, and fans think it could be hinting at its future arrival on the Game Pass.
Amidst the leaks, which ultimately revealed a full release schedule and a new console for Xbox, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision is seemingly coming to a close, as the CMA will likely approve the purchase after Microsoft restructured their deal to address concerns around competition issues.
While the talks are still ongoing, and the final report from the CMA will drop on October 18, fans have noticed something interesting when trying to purchase Call of Duty games on the Xbox Store which seems to point toward their arrival on the Game Pass soon.
Xbox fan Idle Sloth has highlighted a “peculiar” message after trying to buy Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on the Xbox Store that says: “You receive this item for free with your gaming subscription. Continue to check out and use it forever!”
Now, Call of Duty games are not on the Xbox Game Pass and the Activision deal has not yet gone through, so this message may be hinting at their intention to bring Call of Duty titles to the subscription service once the deal has been finalized.
This would mean that Call of Duty games would be free for all Game Pass subscribers, and some are taking this message as confirmation that Activision’s FPS games will indeed be available through the platform: “Looks like Activision already preparing for CoD games for #XboxGamePass soon.”
According to a user in the comments, after the deal closes, players could see “old CoD games” on the Xbox Game Pass just “a week or so” after the deal is approved, which they speculate could be on October 11.
What is also apparent, is that it will mostly be old Call of Duty games at the start, as Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and Modern Warfare 3 (2023) will still be under Sony’s marketing. That said, we could see MW2 arrive for Game Pass sometime after MW3 launches, as that’s when Sony’s marketing rights for MW2 will end.
We’ll have to wait and see how accurate this information and speculation is once the Microsoft-Activision deal goes through. Until then, make sure you check out how to play the MW3 campaign early.