Since March 28, players subscribed to Xbox Game Pass can freely roam the world of Sanctuary to put an end to Lilith's actions. After long months of speculation and rumors of all kinds, Diablo IV has finally joined the ranks of Microsoft's gaming subscription. This historic inclusion marks a first major step in the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. As a reminder, the parent studio of Diablo, World of Warcraft and Overwatch was finally bought by the Redmond firm in October 2023, at following an unprecedented legal battle.
The future of these successful franchises will therefore be under the Xbox umbrella, a merger that looked promising. Unfortunately, a wave of layoffs of 1,900 employees decided by Microsoft at the beginning of the year did not fail to reduce players' expectations. While it is still difficult to judge the impact of this decision on Activision Blizzard's projects, the acquisition is already a source of good news for gamers. The addition of Diablo IV to the Game Pass catalog is a first positive manifestation of this alliance, but subscribers have unfortunately been caught off guard. It turns out that the famous hack ‘n slash is deprived of a major feature of the subscription formula. So where has Cloud Gaming gone?
The subtleties of a new alliance
Players have not missed to note that the Game Pass version of Diablo IV is only accessible on PC and Xbox. However, many users regularly rely on the Cloud Gaming feature of the Game Pass Ultimate formula. This allows you to access the catalog anywhere, and in particular on third-party machines such as a Mac, a Steam Deck or even a Smart TV. But why is Activision Blizzard's game deprived of this major advantage? Those who have followed the terms of Activision Blizzard's acquisition very closely have already the answer.
Xbox Cloud Gaming was at the heart of all the concerns during the organization of the transaction. The British competition authorities, also known as the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), wanted to ensure that the Redmond firm would not obtain a monopoly in this new industry by acquiring such a portfolio of cult licenses. In order to be able to proceed with the acquisition, Microsoft had to grant the streaming game rights to different companies. Partnerships have been established with different market players such as NVIDIA Geforce NOW, which already offers access to the Battle.net and Steam versions of Diablo IV and other Activision Blizzard games.
Ubisoft, however, took home the big prize : a transfer of all exploitation rights for Activision Blizzard licenses in cloud gaming for the next 15 years. Thus, all of these titles will benefit from a presence in the cloud as soon as the terms have been established between the different companies. For now, Geforce NOW and Shadow remain the most direct options for accessing Diablo IV in the cloud and from other platforms. On Mac, players will also be able to turn to more complex methods (such as CrossOver software) to allow direct access to the Windows version of the title.
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