Call of Duty leaves Game Pass
- Microsoft confirmed Call of Duty will no longer launch day-one on Xbox Game Pass going forward. (x.com) - New CoD titles will arrive on Game Pass after a year or more, while Ultimate/PC tiers saw immediate price cuts. (x.com) - That changes how new blockbuster shooters reach subscribers and shifts the timing of Game Pass's biggest draw. (x.com)
Microsoft is ending day-one Game Pass launches for future Call of Duty games and pushing those releases to the following holiday season, about a year later. (news.xbox.com) The change took effect with Microsoft’s April 21, 2026 Game Pass update. The company said future Call of Duty titles “won’t join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch,” though current Call of Duty games already in the library will stay available. (news.xbox.com) Microsoft paired that shift with lower monthly prices for its top tiers in the United States. Game Pass Ultimate fell from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, and PC Game Pass dropped from $16.49 to $13.99, with Microsoft noting prices can vary by region. (news.xbox.com) That is a sharp break from how Microsoft handled the last two mainline Call of Duty releases on its own store pages. Xbox says Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is included with Game Pass, and its Black Ops 7 page says the game is “available now with Game Pass.” (xbox.com 1) (xbox.com 2) Game Pass has long sold itself on getting subscribers new releases the day they arrive. Xbox’s plan-comparison page still advertises “Play new games the day they’re released,” but the fine print now says that promise “excludes Call of Duty titles.” (xbox.com) Microsoft had moved in the opposite direction just six months earlier. In an October 1, 2025 post introducing new Essential, Premium, and Ultimate plans, Xbox said Ultimate subscribers would get “over 75 day one releases a year,” including Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. (news.xbox.com) The company’s current marketing now draws a new line between most Xbox-published games and Call of Duty. One Xbox Game Pass page says Premium subscribers can play new Xbox-published games within one year of launch, “excluding Call of Duty titles,” while the April 21 update says new Call of Duty games will arrive during the following holiday season. (xbox.com) (news.xbox.com) The result is that Game Pass still offers day-one access for many releases, but not for the franchise that has become one of Xbox’s biggest subscription draws. For players who joined expecting the next annual Call of Duty at launch, the new timetable is now a wait of roughly a year. (xbox.com) (news.xbox.com)
