Xbox Drops Game Pass Prices, But Day One Call of Duty Games Are No More

Xbox Game Pass price drop

Microsoft just announced that it’s dropping the price of Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and it’s doing so by removing day one access to all new Call of Duty Games. Game Pass Ultimate is dropping from $29.99 to $22.99/month, while PC Game Pass is dropping from $16.49 to $13.99/month.

“Beginning this year, future Call of Duty titles won’t join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. New Call of Duty games will be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season (about a year later), while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available,” the Xbox team said today.

Nothing is changing regarding other Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass perks. Current Call of Duty games will stay in the library, and there will still be first-party and third-party games coming to Game Pass on day one. This is just Xbox acknowledging that the current pricing and business model for Game wasn’t working out.

Bloomberg previously reported that putting new Call of Duty games on Game Pass cost Microsoft $300 million in lost sales, and the Game Pass price increases were tough to swallow for Game Pass members who didn’t care about Call of Duty. For a service that has been perceived for a long time as the best deal in gaming, $29.99/month was just too expensive for most people. Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, acknowledged it publicly.”Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players,” the exec posted on X.

“Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far. We’ll continue to listen and learn,” the Xbox team said today.

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