Diablo 4 has been extremely popular since launching on June 6, but Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has made a decisive comment on Xbox Game Pass rumors.
Releasing on consoles at the same time as PC was a first for the Diablo franchise and has proven to be a successful move, with it taking just five days for Diablo 4 to achieve record sale numbers for Blizzard.
Millions of players have joined the battle against Lilith in Sanctuary and there were rumours of the game opening up to a new audience with a release on Xbox Game Pass, which would make it available for free to those subscribed to the service.
The rumor stemmed from the Brazilian payments app PICPAY, which stated that Diablo 4 was available to play “through Xbox Game Pass”. While this was not the case, it sparked speculation of an imminent addition to the catalogue.
However, Ybarra has issued a swift response to that speculation by making it clear that Diablo 4 is not coming to Xbox Game Pass despite the rumors to the contrary.
The outcome is not too surprising given the immense success of Diablo 4, particularly as being added to the Xbox Game Pass catalogue just a month after release would have sparked fury among players who forked out to buy the game.
While Diablo 4 is not coming to Xbox Game Pass now, it does not mean that the game will not join it at some point in the future, as Microsoft continually updates the service with more games.
On July 5, GTA 5 returned to Xbox Game Pass after almost a two-year absence and the Rockstar title remains extremely popular, so it may be an avenue for Blizzard to explore with Diablo 4 in a few years.
