Xbox Game Pass may be about to add another Call of Duty title—and the timing is hard to ignore. Just days before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare lands on the service, a new Microsoft Store listing points to Call of Duty: Vanguard potentially joining the lineup next.
The tipoff comes from an unexpected place: the Microsoft Store. Call of Duty: Vanguard recently released a new PC version, something the game had never had before. Until now, the 2021 shooter only existed as a console release within the Xbox ecosystem.
The move would fit neatly into Xbox’s larger Game Pass push. April is already stacked with major releases, including Final Fantasy IV, Hades II, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and EA Sports NHL 26. Then comes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on April 17, bringing its campaign, multiplayer, and Special Ops modes to cloud, console, and PC.
Microsoft has been building toward this ever since it completed its Activision Blizzard deal. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 became the first game in the franchise to launch directly into Xbox Game Pass on day one, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is already receiving fresh content through the service. Season 03 rolled out earlier this month with new maps, weapons, and the Ashwood Survival Zombies map.
There is still one catch: a Microsoft Store listing is not the same thing as an announcement. Reports surrounding the discovery note that “this sort of move usually happens when the team is preparing a title for Game Pass on the backend,” but those backend changes do not always lead to an immediate release.
Still, Call of Duty: Vanguard makes sense. The game, developed by Sledgehammer Games, launched in 2021 and took the franchise back to World War II. Sledgehammer is also expected to return to the series in the next few years, making Vanguard an easy way for Microsoft to put the studio back in front of players.
