The next Call of Duty, believed to be a Black Ops sequel set during the Gulf War, will be the first new entry in the popular online shooter to be on Xbox Game Pass. That’s according to a report by The Wall Street Journal today, which said the announcement will be made at Microsoft’s big annual Xbox Showcase in June.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as 2024's entry, made by Treyarch Studios, was previously reported by Insider Gaming. Microsoft teased an extended Direct for an unknown game directly after its June showcase, which fans quickly pieced together to be this year’s Call of Duty reveal. According to The Verge, Microsoft had until recently been debating whether to keep Call of Duty off Game Pass, or add it and increase the price of the service. It’s unclear if the new reporting by The Wall Street Journal means Game Pass will get another price hike in 2024, or if Call of Duty will be exclusive to certain tiers.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Call of Duty costs hundreds of millions to make each year, and each year it sells tens of millions of copies. The cycle was so lucrative for publisher Activision that it slowly forced every studio it owned to contribute to making the hit series. When Microsoft finished its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, whether Call of Duty would join Diablo 4 and other games on Game Pass was one of the big questions.
