Three Activision Blizzard Titles Expected To Join Xbox Game Pass 'Very Soon'

I hope so. These are the three big games I want after the ABK acquisition.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy let's fckn go!

Can't wait for those three titles. Those were near the top of my list for Activison GP releases. These are just more titles that my 4 year old can experience as she continues to show interest in video games.

@themightyant I think the only reason for the big drop of Bethesda was it was shortly into a new console launch and they were trying to prop it heavily and they were also trying to brute force cloud into "happening" before someone else did. If the Bethesda purchase happened any other time, I think it would have been a drip feed, but it was just the perfect storm timing of having a bunch of new content and having a subscription that needed a huge splash in two different markets.

This time there won't be any new big pools of assets for a long time so they have to make it last.

It’s ridiculous it has taken this long to add ABK games to Game Pass, I’m okay with them drip feeding those games but they should’ve started since closing the acquisition imo.

I'm currently playing through both N. Sane and Reignited as I've been on a 3D platformer binge for the past month or so; they're so good.

@Divide_and_Wander Have you introduced your 4 year old to Atari Kaboom?? I loved that game as a kid and I see your avatar here.

Was never a fan of those three, but might give Spyro another chance.

@NEStalgia @themightyant I think you will see more of a drip feed to fill in the months without MS own releases.

But I’m still surprised they didn’t drop some of the older CoDs over the last few months, as you would imagine they wouldn’t want to release them close to the new game.

Ironic how a slow drip feed is the fasted way to make no one care.

@Scummbuddy - she watched me play through games on the Atari 50 collection and she told me those games looked boring, haha. Kaboom might not be in the cards right now. 🤣

Thank Christ it's about time I think and I'm only waiting on spyro as I own the other two!

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I think they'd wait to drop any CoD until after the new release. This is the preorder gathering period, so I could see why they'd keep 100% focused on promoting the new one without confusing matters with other CoD games.

@themightyant I think it's also harder with ABK in that Zenimax was a privately owned top down controlled relatively small organization with a mostly PC-game fixated path so getting all the needed steps through the channels was probably pretty efficient and smooth. ABK is a godawful bloated behemoth bureaucracy like themselves where the fastest red tape route to get from point A to point B is a pentagram. They probably spent 6 months in meetings meant to plan the meetings to discuss this. And then it gets to the software that's probably so unaligned with the changes needed to support the GP/cloud requirements etc. Just given the organization structure it doesn't seem strange to me. The bigger the entity the worse it is at doing anything quickly.

Crash n sane trilogy is an old game but it's great all the same

@NEStalgia My thoughts on cloud gaming (especially in the US) really hasn't changed and at this time there really is no reason think it will. Think lot of people share my thoughts as well.

For places like say Korea that have excellent internet infrastructure it would do well. But in US, slow speeds, data caps, overpriced internet, etc, it just will not work in major adaptation.

Sure you will have your diehards and tech heads that love that kinda of stuff, only that group is just so small. But for the average person, at this time, it's just not going to happen. Microsoft, time and time again, have always either been too early, or too late for vast majority of their products and tech. Shame since lot of their products are superior to what is it or coming out. Zune and Windows Phone are fantastic examples.

@GuyinPA75 I think cloud gaming has been through a roller coaster. 3 years ago, there seemed to be a big push for it, and MS in particular seemed to be betting the farm on it, mostly because they were trying to get into the more profitable mobile arena. But then they bought ABK that got them in directly and they didn't need it anymore, plus QE/cheap money ended with ballooning interest and the datacenter rollouts stalled, and then AI happened and they pivoted entirely away from cloud anything and into AI.

Meanwhile at the trial, Bond admitted basically nobody uses cloud. However, I think bundling it with things like Fire Stick and all will change that somewhat. I think there's a big market that will pay to watch/play do anything you place in front of them, but will never go out of their way to do it if it's not placed in front of them.

It's kind of the opposite of die hards and tech heads though. The die hards and tech heads will accept nothing less than PC gaming at maximum performance at 140fps minimum and negative latency. The conventional "gamer" consumer will still want consoles. Streaming, for the beginning is about capturing "everyone else" into gaming who otherwise wouldn't have bothered. I.E. It's not for "us" it's for "them".

One thing that might change that though is hardware prices. We've seen GPUs balloon from $600 to $1200 for the xx80 series (then a slight roll back to $1000 before probably going up again this coming gen.) With that the silicon prices goes up, and with that, consoles too (this gen is based on 2019/2020 pricing still....it hasn't entered the new world until next gen), gaming hardware might price itself out of existence until streaming is the only affordable option for many.

I'm of mixed mind on US adoption. Most of the US still has poor internet, but that's also changing somewhwat decently for at-home internet. Most importantly it'll work in major metros, and for many companies that's where the plurality of monied people are so that's all that matters.

Mostly though I think cloud just stalled because the companies that were hellbent on pushing it stopped caring. Mostly they moved on to the new shiny with AI and everything else stopped mattering. They're mostly interested in getting behind the next big thing before the other guy. 3 years ago that was cloud services, this year it's AI. Maybe AI will revolutionize everything. Maybe it'll stall and die like half the other "next big things" when everyone realizes it's not quite what the hype is. Only after a few trillion in market caps implode of course.

Agreed about MS always being too soon or too late though. Whenever they have a great idea the push it too early to get it out first, and it withers. The rest of the time they just follow everyone else and call it a lead without ever gaining market. And on rare occasion they actually have the right product at the right time and then somehow manage to sabotage it.

Good choices but I already own all 3.

Need a next gen racer update

All these old games do the same to me everytime I try them.
I start with great memories before I play.
Then start playing and remembering the game and levels and then think this is old school nowadays.

Nostalgia is a strange thing, but I find I’m better left with fond memories rather than try again and get let down.

I wonder what the player breakdown would look like if all cod games were on gamepass. Would there be a substantial player base on each? Would that hurt the current game? Probably not but I doubt xbox wants to split the player base more than it already is between war zone and the newest game.

They could almost just focus on low effort remaster collections if they ever want an extra year to develop the new releases. Launch a "best of black ops" collection on every platform and gamepass or a best of zombies, etc on those off years.

It would be cool to have like 20 call of duty games on gamepass but I'm starting to doubt if that will ever happen.

I already own the N-sane Trilogy so I'm personally looking forward to Tony Hawk 1+2 coming to Game Pass

I'm here for all of this. My kids will enjoy them as well so that's always a big bonus

I doubt this will happen but I hope the Crash and Spyro trilogies get Series X optimizations for 4K60. I know Spyro had some minor physics issues tied to the frame rate on PC so that would probably involve a bit more effort.

Either way, glad to hear these are most likely coming soon.

@Tasuki

Feels like when I first saw a Sonic game on Nintendo.

Or a cat and a dog living together in perfect harmony.

@Divide_and_Wander aww. I'll start my 2 year old out strictly on Atari 2600 games and gradually work through the generations.

@Altaria_97 I hope so. I bought Spyro Reignited Trilogy and I'm still waiting for a 60fps update to play it. It doesn't bother me in Crash Bandicoot N.sane Trilogy, but it'd be awesome in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.

Fair additions. Still doesn't disappoint me with back compat IPs I'd like to see.

Oh well PS2/PS3/360 copies it is on the original console then Xbox One/Series then using the OG Xbox or 360 versions benefits on modern back compat.

Especially as still buying up PS3/360 shooters from that era like did Neverdead or some others. Got Lost Odyssey, got many 360 era IPs over the years to catch up on whenever I see them I either way or go for them. Today was an exception because I know I barely see them even if well known only seen Lost Odyssey twice and it didn't work as had no 1st disk last time. Others it varies. Loved Kingdom Under Fire Circle of Doom even if different then the OG Xbox entries and to just discover other OG Xbox/360 era games I never knew about till now has been a lot of fun. Just like researching a Gizmondo, Neo Geo Pocket or a Xavix Port (pre Wii Sports console and controllers type concept by ex Nintendo employees) or any other niche/failed consoles or old but good IPs left behind not continued.

@BacklogBrad I wonder too.

I have been wanting the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era COD games to be on modern platforms as most (no idea if COD 3 for 360 or some others aren't on there) of the core PS3/360/Wii era ones are already there, but they haven't happened yet so PS2 versions when perfectly good OG Xbox versions to buy up (physical not digital even if they went to the program but for those that haven't they can get those that way of course) I find it is.

I don't know if people care that much for the older ones compared to the 7th gen entries that many got into the series with or are fond of, but to me as I never played the 6th gen entries (but did the 7th gen ones) till now, they have been intriguing to me and fun so far.

I'm probably the minority of the audience interested in the older entries but I don't know for sure because it's always later entries that get talked about I don't see older ones mentioned that much.

How could I not want to revive the Tony Hawks nostalgic vibes. As for Crash, meh. Had all the fun I needed with Crash back in the days of the PS1. What's a Spyro? 🫠Is that the little dragon platformer? I feel too old for a game like that but the younger gamers may find some fun with it.

Now, give me the original COD MW1 & 2 and I'm all ears.

Ah good. These are three I've not played (though I did play some of the originals back in the day), but have been looking forward to. I've held off on buying Spyro for years waiting for a GP release.

@shoeses
Oh we care buddy, we care

@Scummbuddy this is the way

Interesting. I’ve never played any of these Crash Bandicoot or Spyro games but I will try them on Game Pass. When it comes to platformers, I’ve always stuck with Super Mario and Banjo-Kazooie. I tried Jak and Daxter 1 on PlayStation Vita over ten years after it originally released and it was just okay, but not something that hooked me though. Banjo-Kazooie 1 is to GOAT of platformers, by the way.

Looking forward to any of these Xbox Game Pass additions in particular?

No

They need to add all the Activision 360 titles to Backwards-compatibility.