Xbox Game Pass exceeds 25 million subscribers and more Activision Blizzard games are coming

The Xbox Game Pass subscriber count has now surpassed 25 million as of the latest official count from Microsoft.

The last public numbers from Microsoft pointed to a total Game Pass subscriber count of 18 million, which means the service's reach has continued to expand rapidly despite a financial statement from November that revealed it had fallen short of its overall growth goal.

Microsoft delivered the news alongside its announcement that it's now in the process of buying Activision Blizzard, the parent company of major gaming franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush Saga, and many more. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in a message posted to Xbox Wire that the deal will mean a new bounty of games for Game Pass as well.

"Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog," Spencer wrote. "We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass."

That stops short of confirming any specific titles being headed to Game Pass. Looking back at Microsoft's last big gaming-related purchase, we know that Bethesda's biggest upcoming games, including Starfield and Redfall, were all earmarked for a day-one launch on Game Pass soon after the company was purchased by Microsoft. That said, Activision Blizzard is a very different company from Bethesda, and its Game Pass-related arrangements with Microsoft may differ.

See what else we're excited about coming to Microsoft's console with our guide to upcoming Xbox Series X games.