Older Xbox 360 Games Might be Coming Back Soon
It was back in last November that Microsoft stopped adding new backward compatible games to the roster of Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass which was a pretty unfortunate sight to behold. In addition, Microsoft stopped featuring backward compatible updates for the newer hardware. However, this was before the time of the Activision Blizzard acquisition deal, and keeping this in mind, a new rumor suggests that the deal might add an extra batch of older generation titles to the newer generation hardware and Xbox Game Pass service. This makes a lot of sense considering the fact that Microsoft ended its backward compatibility line-up of classic Xbox and Xbox 360 games because they just couldn’t put up and keep up with the licensing issues surrounding the older titles. Once the company gains control over Activision Blizzard, licensing issues will go out the door and Microsoft just might add older generation Activision games to their renowned subscription service. Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition deal could mean many great things for the future as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft could be coming to Game Pass in their future iterations and installments. With the acquisition in its final stages as regulatory authorities set out to approve the acquisition, upcoming releases are not the only thing players can look forward to, as many great relics of the past are also coming to the future of the Xbox platform. According to the Xbox Insider and leaker by the name of Shpeshal_Nick, particular games from older generations of hardware may be finally making their way to the current generation of Xbox hardware thanks to the acquisitions that could potentially clear up current licensing barriers. Relevant: Xenia Canary Crushes Red Dead Redemption’s Xbox 360 Port on PC With Over 100 FPS
It was on the latest episode of the XboxEra podcast where Shpeshal_Nick stated that the licensing barriers for certain older generation games would no longer be a matter of issue and concern for Microsoft. While these games haven’t been revealed yet, the source states that players shouldn’t hold out hope for older Marvel games that were featured on the Xbox 360. Nick Baker claimed that there’s a list of potential games that will probably be added to the Game Pass subscription service in the future but he couldn’t say which games would exactly be added. He did state that it wasn’t an exceptionally long list and that you can rule out any Marvel titles added by Activision the likes of the classic Spider-Man Shattered Dimension and Deadpool. This is quite believable considering the fact that Activision lost the rights to Marvel years ago and Disney has acquired them through the acquisition of Marvel for billions of dollars. For the very same reason, we can rule out any of the Transformers games such as Transformers: War for Cybertron and its sequel Fall of Cybertron considering the fact that Activision’s deal with Hasbro expired back in 2018. Those include previous generational tiles for the Xbox 360 from Spider-Man and X-men, as they do involve more complicated licensing concerns with Disney. If the current Activision Blizzard deal finally goes through, the insiders state that the possible games to become available on the Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X via backward compatibility could amount to two or three Xbox 360 titles under the umbrella of those studios. Despite Xbox’s backward compatibility updates coming to an end, this new deal could potentially bring back some welcome surprised to Xbox’s catalog of backward compatible tiles. Currently, Activision games being added to the Microsoft storefront and Xbox Game Pass could indeed be a safe bet but currently, Microsoft hasn’t added announced or reported. On another note, due to the deal made by Sony with Activision for Call of Duty, Microsoft probably won’t be bringing the Call of Duty franchise and its latest iterations any time soon. Expect Call of Duty to come to Xbox Game Pass some time in 2025 or 2026. The almost 70 billion dollar acquisition is almost complete as Microsoft waits on the Federal Trade Commission to approve the deal, but even so, Activision Blizzard shareholders have given the heads up for the acquisition. Despite this, there are still loads of hurdles for Microsoft as currently, Saudi Arabia remains as the only competition regulator that has given them their stamp of approval with eyes also raised among US senators in regards to security concerns and the possibility of Insider Trading. There’s still a comprehensive list of Xbox 360 titles that are still backward incompatible, but even so, Microsoft sets the precedent for how previous generation titles should be handled and preserved and if this acquisition is finally completed, it could solidify this as an opportunity to raise the number of backward compatible titles that are compatible. But will that scenario come to fruition? Only time will tell. Is acquiring Activision Blizzard for nearly 70 billion dollars worth it considering Microsoft will only be able to add a select number of Xbox and Xbox 360 titles into the roster of Xbox Game Pass to be accessible on the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles? Microsoft seems to have big plans in the wake of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We don’t know what the acquisition entails exactly asides from beefing up the roster of Xbox Game Pass titles. Hopefully, we’ll find out once the acquisition is completed and Microsoft proceeds with its plans. So, what do you think of a select number of Xbox and Xbox 360 titles coming to Xbox Game Pass in the future in the wake of the Activision Blizzard acquisition deal? Let us know in the comments below. And that’s pretty much it for today’s news. We upload daily on Appuals, so stay tuned for more. Till then, see you later and goodbye. Read More: New Mafia Prequel Game in the works at 2K Games’ Hangar 13 Studio
