Xbox Slashes Game Pass Prices, Call of Duty No Longer A Part of Program

• CEO follows through on making Game Pass a "value" for players

• Call of Duty is no longer a day-one benefit of the program, will come to Game Pass a year after launch

Following up on a story that gained traction in recent weeks regarding Xbox Game Pass, the developer/publisher/holdings company has decided to adjust the price of their subscription program following CEO Asha Sharma's evaluation. Effective immediately, the price of Game Pass Ultimate will see a $7 price decrease, and PC Game Pass will be $2.50 cheaper. This will cut the initial cost of $29.99 a month down to $22.99 for the Ultimate program, and $13.99 for PC Game Pass.

"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," Xbox says in an official statement. "We’ll continue to listen and learn."

THE FATE OF CALL OF DUTY ON GAME PASS

Perhaps the caveat of this move, this means the Call of Duty series, the flagship first person shooter that was a huge grab for Xbox during the purchase of Activision, will no longer be a day one perk. Current games on Game Pass will still be available, but new entries will now be added during the following holiday season. So about a year after launch.

Following the October 2025 price hike to $30, this highlights the practice of high tier game releases being a day one benefit for Game Pass. The change will aim to make up for the stagnating subscription numbers Xbox may have seen from raising the price. Through Cloud Gaming and Smart Delivery, the perks are quite good for what Game Pass offers. But a rising cost in today's demanding economy, which has already seen Tariffs affect the prices of hardware, it's tough to justify more dire entertainment value costs for the customer's dollar.

What does this mean for other Xbox games that were considered "big sellers" for the brand? In the past, games that were day-one releases on Game Pass likely didn't move the needle for Microsoft, so games like Hi-Fi Rush, Alan Wake II, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seeing low sales due to the Game Pass Ultimate access (or at least in Hi-Fi Rush's instance, no promotion) will see middling returns. Perhaps if these games were available via retail one day one, results may have fared better.

SOURCE: Xbox