Xbox Game Pass Shift
- Microsoft cut Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month and announced future Call of Duty titles won't launch day-one. (x.com) - The change was posted by CEO Asha Sharma and drew tens of thousands of social reactions, including 44K likes and millions views. (x.com) - The announcement set off a massive public debate about subscription value and franchise release windows on social platforms. (x.com)
Microsoft has cut Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $22.99 a month and ended day-one access to new Call of Duty games on the service. (news.xbox.com) The change took effect April 21, when Xbox said Ultimate fell from $29.99 to $22.99 and PC Game Pass dropped from $16.49 to $13.99. Xbox said future Call of Duty releases will arrive “during the following holiday season,” about a year after launch. (news.xbox.com) Asha Sharma, who became Microsoft’s gaming chief in February, posted the shift as her first major Game Pass reset. CNBC reported Sharma had recently told employees the service had become “too expensive” and needed a better value equation. (cnbc.com) Game Pass is Microsoft’s all-you-can-play subscription for Xbox consoles, personal computers, and cloud streaming. The top tier still includes online multiplayer, cloud gaming, in-game perks, and other first-day releases, but Call of Duty is now carved out of that launch promise. (news.xbox.com) That carveout lands on the company’s biggest shooter franchise, which Microsoft gained through its $75.4 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023. Microsoft said existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will stay there. (cnbc.com) The move follows last October’s 50% jump in Game Pass Ultimate pricing to $29.99, a change widely linked to the cost of adding new Call of Duty games. GeekWire reported Microsoft’s gaming revenue fell 9% to $5.96 billion in the most recent holiday quarter, with Xbox content and services below internal projections. (geekwire.com) Xbox framed the new pricing as a response to player feedback across different regions and play styles. Microsoft said there “isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone” and that it will “continue to listen and learn.” (news.xbox.com) The reaction online was immediate because the company lowered the monthly bill while narrowing one of the service’s biggest selling points. That leaves Game Pass cheaper than it was a week ago, but no longer the place where every new Call of Duty starts on day one. (ign.com)
