Image: Activision
Microsoft looks to draw subscribers to Xbox Game Pass by dropping its biggest franchise on the service.
Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will officially launch as a day one title on Xbox Game Pass. That means you won’t have to buy the highly-anticipated military shooter at full price to play it. Instead, you can just fork up for a cheaper Game Pass subscription for however long you intend to play the game, and access other titles on the service while doing it.
If Xbox is trying to draw more subscribers to Game Pass, it looks like the company has just opted for the nuclear option.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch as a day one Xbox Game Pass title
Ever since Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, it’s been suspected that the company intended to use Activision's gargantuan Call of Duty franchise to strengthen its Xbox Game Pass subscription service. However, dropping a new Call of Duty game on the service on day one - like Xbox does with all of its first-party games - would theoretically cut into game sales massively, which begs the question: how far is the company willing to go to sustain Game Pass?
Apparently, quite far indeed .This week, Microsoft announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch as a day one title on Xbox Game Pass. The company dropped a new live-action trailer for the game (seen above) to announce the news, though the video doesn’t present any additional information on the game. For that, fans will have to wait until Xbox and Activision’s dual game showcases on June 9.
On June 9, Xbox will hold its annual Xbox Games Showcase to show off upcoming games in its release slate for the Xbox Series X|S, after which Activision will host its own stream to dive into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s story and gameplay details. The trailer above hints at political conspiracies involving past US Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, several other figures like former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Saddam Hussein. The game is rumoured to take place during the Gulf War.
Microsoft is also rumoured to change its pricing for Xbox Game Pass’ subscription tiers to reflect the addition of Black Ops 6. We’ll likely hear more details about that during its June 9 Xbox Games Showcase.