A new offer a few weeks after the reports Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was Xbox is pushing for “lower-priced tiers” of Game Pass and said the service was “too expensive for gamers”, Xbox Game Pass End now it is much cheaper. Originally $29.99 per month, it’s now down to $22.99 per month — a whopping $7 reduction.
It is almost completely reversed great price walk arrived last Octoberthough it didn’t come without a distinct cost to subscribers; new Call of Duty titles will no longer be available Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass on day one and will instead come to Microsoft’s subscription service a year after launch. Still, the overall reception to this change has been positive so far.
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It’s a good thing creatively for the CoD team and the quality of the game to know that people will buy it. It’s nice to see the Xbox team following Sony’s model of releasing games after peak sales windows. https://t.co/UWCCw7Ll9QApril 21, 2026
The gist of Douse’s argument is that with Call of Duty off Game Pass, its developers will hopefully be able to enjoy more creative freedom and less demand, delivering games that increase profitability at the expense of quality. It is worth noting that The existence of Game Pass cost Call of Duty hundreds of millions in salesthis could result in upward pressure to sell more future games.
It’s a good point, although while the move is ultimately better for the shooter franchise, some feel it could be worse for Microsoft and Xbox Game Pass. After all, first-day availability for first-party Xbox games is one of Game Pass’ biggest advantages over something like PlayStation Plus, and the ability to offer it for a huge franchise like Call of Duty was arguably one of Microsoft’s biggest wins. The $69 billion Activision Blizzard merger.
That being said, putting a massive series like Call of Duty on Game Pass day was certainly a big reason we saw the price hike we did last year, and many people canceled their memberships due to the hike. By removing FPS from Game Pass at launch, Microsoft will likely recoup the aforementioned sales. and may draw players back to the service now that it’s nearly as affordable as before.
Looked at this way, it’s a win-win and Game Pass users do Finally, get access to Call of Duty even a year after release. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Douse sees the series’ removal from the first-day catalog as a victory, but if he’s opposed to the price drop; he reacted negatively to reports of Sharma’s plans to lower Game Pass pricesargues that making the service too cheap threatens sustainability.
Do you agree with Michael Douse that Call of Duty is a good thing outside of Xbox Game Pass, or are you disappointed to see this news? Let me know below, both in the comments and in our poll.
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