One thing I try to do with my voice on Windows Central is to amplify Xbox community concerns, and there’s one I haven’t really given enough of a spotlight to of late.
It’s increasingly risen to the fore of my DMs and emails over time, though, as Xbox fans ask, “What’s going on with Activision-Blizzard?”
Microsoft closed its acquisition of ABK almost a year and a half ago, back in late 2023, giving it control of dozens upon dozens of IP including World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Candy Crush Saga, and many more.
Some Xbox fans and commentators beyond have been asking “why” in increasing numbers, though, since so far, it seems that Xbox fans have had to give up quite a lot for what has been relatively inconsistent gains so far. But is that a fair assessment? Let’s examine.
Frustration grows
Creator Destin Legarie put out the above video recently, which is a fairly scathing critique of how Microsoft has handled Activision-Blizzard thus far.
It’s perhaps ironic for me, as a World of Warcraft devotee, that I couldn’t be happier with how things have played out so far — CEO Bobby Kotick is gone, the micromanagement of Blizzard seems to be at an end, shielded from shareholders, as President Johanna Faries seems focused on player enjoyment and growth rather than cutting corners.
Blizzcon is coming back, too, which is something I didn’t expect to see under Microsoft. World of Warcraft is in a better place than it has been in years, so selfishly, I’m pretty happy as a fan, but if you’re an Xbox console player, my personal joy is going to be a very, vanishingly small consolation.
When Microsoft talked up its deal with Activision-Blizzard, democratizing access to the ABK back catalog was often touted as a big selling point.
“Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass,” Xbox lead Phil Spencer wrote in 2022, “[with] both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog.”
Perhaps it wasn’t worded the best, but upon close, very little went into Xbox Game Pass. The following year since, a fairly insignificant amount of games have hit Xbox Game Pass too since then.
On console, so far, you’ve had Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6, the Spyro Collection, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Crash Team Racing, and Diablo 4’s base game.
You’ve had some relatively mild integration with Overwatch and other titles, and on PC Game Pass, you’ve seen a few classics like Diablo 1, Starcraft 1, and Starcraft 2.
I must once again beg Xbox and its executives like @xboxp3, @BondSarah_Bond, @jronald to revive Backwards Compatibility and especially relicensing titles under the banner of the studios you have acquired. Show your console audience you will still make initiatives for them. pic.twitter.com/KEeW0Tto2zMarch 16, 2025
There are a couple I might be missing here… but Activision owns hundreds of Xbox and PC games. I’ve been repeatedly asked about potential new Xbox backward compatible games like Prototype, Singularity, the classic Transformers games.
There’s also a huge variety of classic Call of Duty titles that could hit Game Pass and even things like deeper World of Warcraft or Heroes of the Storm integrations.
So far, Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard has delivered very little upon the potential it touted during those court cases and blog posts in the run up to the deal closing.
Diablo IV not being in Xbox Cloud Gaming and its expansion not supporting Xbox Play Anywhere have been particular sore points for me personally.
There were old rumors from people like extas1s who claimed games like Crash Bandicoot 4 were slated for Xbox Game Pass, which so far haven’t materialized. Although new ABK games are hitting the service and meeting the program’s promise, like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, the benefits for Xbox players seem to have been relatively light so far. (Although after publication, Microsoft did add Blizzard’s classics collection to Xbox Game Pass, so, we’re getting there?!)
In exchange for the relatively small amount of games hitting the service, Xbox lost potential cloud gaming rights to games like Diablo 4 to Ubisoft in the regulatory rulings.
Xbox fans have also lost the guarantee of exclusive platform content, diminishing the reason to own an Xbox in the first place. Some content creators, like Colin Moriarty at Sacred Symbols, have suggested that Xbox flew “too close to the sun” with its $71 billion bill for Activision-Blizzard, forcing it to abandon its own platform to deliver a quick turnaround for Microsoft’s corporate overlords.
Whatever the truth is, I can understand the sentiment that things haven’t exactly been stellar for Xbox customers so far, many of whom had hoped this marked a turning point for the brand and would guarantee its long-term future.
Integrations take time, but is Xbox may be spreading itself thin?
Xbox’s gaming division has grown into a force to be reckoned with, commanding billions in revenue and growing bigger than Windows itself.
With a world-class hardware team and the greatest video game IP catalog in history, backed by an industry-leading cloud and AI platform — you’d think “Microsoft Gaming” had all the pieces in play to build a historic success story. But, the growth has also multiplied the problems and pitfalls.
The industry changed a lot between the start and end of Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard acquisition. Gaming was flying during the pandemic, with everyone stuck at home.
But now, addictive algorithms like those seen on TikTok and other forms of social media are eating into game hours more rapidly than ever. Investment capital is flowing towards A.I. fads at a breakneck pace, likely heaping pressure on Microsoft from a shareholder perspective. That $72~ billion could have been used to scoop up OpenAI instead of Call of Duty.
Phil Spencer and team have been forced to hollow out the soul of Xbox in order to satisfy Microsoft’s corporate layer, kneeling down to PlayStation and Steam as it seeks to meet players where they are rather than spend up on marketing and long-term plans to move them to places where they’d more likely want them to be.
The disruption has led Microsoft’s existing and most loyal fanbase to wonder where they fit into all of this. Is Microsoft holding back on dumping games into Xbox Game Pass because the growth has stalled, and it could spread per-title engagement too thinly?
Does Microsoft not have all the necessary rights despite spending $72 billion? There are a lot of questions without answers regarding this topic right now.
In any case, one user said to me in DM earlier today about Xbox back compatibility and Activision Blizzard titles that it would be “an easy stop gap for Xbox to show they aren’t abandoning their console players.” Almost as if it’s less about the games and more about looking for an official sign that Xbox isn’t simply in some form of managed decline.
Microsoft does have a mountain of great-looking upcoming Xbox games to look forward to. There’s also strong Xbox hardware rumors, too. But the whole Activision-Blizzard back catalog, backwards compatibility debate underpins this idea that the fire Xbox had to compete for existing users seems to have dimmed.
It’s a sentiment I hear a lot these days, and I’m not sure Microsoft is doing enough to address it.
