Next Call of Duty Rumor: Black Ops Cold War Could Join Xbox Game Pass
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War may be the next big military shooter to land on Xbox Game Pass, and the idea hinges on a pattern Xbox has already started: bringing the game to Xbox on PC first, then following up with a Game Pass release later. The clearest comparison is Call of Duty: Vanguard, which received an official Xbox on PC version before it eventually made its way onto Xbox Game Pass.
Originally launched in November 2020, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the sixth installment in the Black Ops line. Instead of returning to the more futuristic tone of the two previous entries, it sends players back to a historically grounded setting—centered on the Cold War atmosphere of the 1980s. Even with that shift, the game still built a strong reputation with players, particularly for its campaign and a multiplayer experience many found easy to jump into. Critics weren’t as unanimous, though: on OpenCritic, it posted a Top Critic Average of 75.
While that’s the current discussion, there’s also another reason to keep your aim warm: the first Black Ops game is slated to arrive on modern PlayStation hardware at some point in July, so it’s a good moment to revisit which guns have the best reputations.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Could Be Coming to Xbox Game Pass
A post on the r/xbox community, and an early report that drew attention from Pure Xbox, points to a new development for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The game appears to have gained an official Xbox on PC listing, which can now be spotted on the Microsoft Store. Prior to this change, the only Microsoft Store availability for Black Ops Cold War was limited to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions released in 2020.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
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This isn’t the first time the same chain of events has shown up. Call of Duty: Vanguard went through a similar sequence: back in April, it suddenly received an official Xbox on PC version, and then roughly two months later it arrived on Xbox Game Pass. That timing is what some fans are using to guess what might happen next for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. If the same schedule holds, players could see Black Ops Cold War on Xbox Game Pass sometime in September—though, as always, there’s no confirmation yet and this remains speculation.
Every Call of Duty Available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Right now, there are seven Call of Duty games available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The lineup covers nearly every Call of Duty title released since 2017, with only two notable exceptions: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. On the flip side, the catalog on Game Pass doesn’t include any Call of Duty releases from before 2017 at the moment.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Even with Activision and its entire library under Microsoft’s umbrella, several key Call of Duty entries remain absent from Xbox Game Pass. Some of the missing releases are among the most celebrated in the franchise’s history. The original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy currently isn’t on Xbox Game Pass, and neither are the first four Call of Duty: Black Ops games. With this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 confirmed to skip a day-one Xbox Game Pass drop—and likely more future releases following that approach—it’ll be interesting to see how Xbox handles the franchise’s much larger back catalog going forward.
