Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) has showcased the benefits of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard after it announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available for subscribers straight from launch.
Xbox Game Pass members will be able to access the latest instalment of the first-person shooter franchise immediately upon release without having to pay any additional costs.
Video games have been made available direct to Xbox’s paid subscription service before but never with a game of Call of Duty’s size.
Christopher Dring at GamesIndustry.biz said: "[It} is a big test for subscription, because if Call of Duty can't move the needle in terms of subscriber numbers, probably nothing will.”
A Call of Duty game can typically sell for US$70 and historically averages sales of around 25 million copies, leaving some concerned that the move will cannibalise its revenues.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will remain available for purchase for PlayStation and PC users, with PS owner Sony having previously raised concerns that Xbox owning Activision could damage competition.
Microsoft’s US$69 billion takeover of the video game developer was approved at the end of last year after the company promised not to make Activision Blizzard games Xbox exclusives until 2038.