Call Of Duty Will Be 'Restricted' For Years On Xbox Game Pass

We already know that Microsoft has plans to add tons of Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass when the deal (hopefully) goes through in 2023, but one franchise that will suffer a few stumbling blocks is Call of Duty.

Microsoft confirmed in a recent response to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority that "restrictions" are in place for CoD on Xbox Game Pass, and this is due to Activision Blizzard's existing agreement with Sony.

"The agreement between Activision Blizzard and Sony includes restrictions on the ability of Activision Blizzard to place Call of Duty titles on Game Pass for a number of years."

While this statement doesn't go into detail, it would suggest that new Call of Duty games (such as Modern Warfare 2) won't be added to Game Pass on day one for a few years. According to reports in the past, Sony's deal with Activision Blizzard lasts for at least the next three CoD titles, although that includes Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0.

Nevertheless, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has pointed out before that Microsoft intends to bring Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass, so perhaps we'll be getting the back catalogue until newer games can be added?

We might have to wait until fairly deep into next year until we find out for sure...

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