Microsoft to Add New Games to Xbox Pass for Mobile from Activision Blizzard

Microsoft's website has revealed the addition of games from Activision Blizzard to Xbox Pass for mobile that haven't been there yet.

Mobile gamers can try out titles such as Overwatch, Diablo, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush and the StarCraft series on mobile devices.

Comment by Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming:

While we love consoles, we understand that this is not the only way people play games. Today, the largest and fastest growing segment of games is mobile platforms. To reach billions of players, wherever they are and on whatever device they play, we need to make a choice.

Giving players choice in how they play their games makes games more accessible and leads to larger and more active player communities. The choice is equally important for developers. Developers benefit from having a variety of distribution models and business models for their games. Choice opens up opportunities for innovation and allows the industry to grow.

According to Spencer, Microsoft is giving gamers freedom of choice through two main methods: Game Pass with a subscription option and porting more games to mobile devices. The latter is facilitated by a special cloud technology for transferring games to smartphones.

Mobile Game Pass allows players to discover new titles that are interesting to them, and developers to reach a large audience and show their product to as many players as possible.

An interesting and perhaps sudden announcement awaited fans of Activision Blizzard games who actively use mobile devices as a gaming tool:

We're committed to bringing everyone's favorite library of Activision Blizzard games, including Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty, to Game Pass and expanding those gaming communities. By providing players with even more value, we look forward to further developing Game Pass, expanding its appeal to mobile phones and any connected devices.

However, porting more games to mobile platforms requires new capabilities. The experience that Activision Blizzard teams bring to mobile game development will help us understand how to create games that capture the attention of gamers around the world.

Phil Spencer argues that porting devices to mobile devices via cloud gaming won't hurt gamers who prefer to use other gaming platforms:

We will continue to enable people to play with each other across platforms and devices. We know this approach benefits players because we did it with Minecraft, which is still available on multiple platforms and has expanded to even more since Mojang joined Microsoft in 2014. make sure we do it in a way that protects developers' ability to choose how to distribute their games.