What you need to know
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available day one via Xbox Cloud Gaming when it launches on Oct. 25, 2024.
- Microsoft was forced to sell off the Cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard King games to Ubisoft, meaning the company has to pay Ubisoft in order to add these games to Xbox Cloud Gaming.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming is included as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which also includes day one access to new Xbox first-party games.
- Diablo 4 was the first Activision Blizzard King title added to Xbox Game Pass, but the hack-and-slash RPG is not available on Xbox Cloud Gaming right now.
One of the biggest games of the year will be available to stream through the Cloud.
Treyarch, Raven Software, and Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available through Xbox Cloud Gaming at launch on October 25, Microsoft shared on Monday on Monday via Xbox Wire. The latest entry in the yearly first-person shooter franchise will be joined by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone, which will also be available through Xbox Cloud Gaming on the same day.
Xbox Cloud Gaming is available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft’s gaming subscription service that also grants access to the standard editions of first-party games on day one. Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks titles are available through Xbox Cloud Gaming, but Activision Blizzard King games aren’t guaranteed.
This is because Microsoft had to sell the Cloud streaming rights to these titles to Ubisoft in order to get the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King approved by the CMA, the U.K. regulatory body.
Analysis: Microsoft paid to get Call of Duty on Cloud, but where is Diablo 4?
Blizzard Entertainment’s hack-and-slash RPG Diablo 4 was the first Activision Blizzard King title to arrive in Xbox Game Pass earlier in the year, but it’s not available through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Not many games from Activision’s back catalogue have joined the service yet, but the Crash Bandicoot trilogy also supported Xbox Cloud Gaming when it arrived, so it’s curious to see Diablo as the now-seemingly sole exception.
This is especially odd when looking at the genres of games in question. Call of Duty being more accessible to a wider audience through Cloud gaming is great, but fast-paced first-person shooters don’t play well with a lot of added latency. By contrast, something like Diablo 4 with a fixed camera perspective is more forgiving when streamed, as seen through NVIDIA GeForce NOW.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that there are plans already underway and Diablo 4 is headed to Xbox Cloud Gaming before long. Microsoft is making moves for its Cloud gaming plans, and players will soon be able to buy and play games directly through the Xbox App on Android, a process that will expand and include the games players already own.
All of this is made even more interesting by the fact that Ubisoft, holder of the streaming rights, may be purchased by Tencent and the Guillemot family in the near future. What happens to the rights in that situation? We’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out.
