Game Pass price shift
- Xbox announced Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, but new Call of Duty titles won't launch day-one on the service. (x.com) - The new $22.99 price was revealed by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma in a high‑engagement social post. (x.com) - The announcement drew 78.7K likes, 2.6K reposts and 19M+ views, triggering wide debate about value versus exclusivity. (x.com)
Xbox cut the price of Game Pass Ultimate to $22.99 a month on April 21, but new Call of Duty games will no longer arrive on the service at launch. (news.xbox.com) The change took effect immediately, down from $29.99 for Ultimate and from $16.49 to $13.99 for PC Game Pass. Xbox said existing Call of Duty games already in the catalog will stay there. (news.xbox.com) Under the new policy, future Call of Duty releases will join Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the holiday season, about a year after launch. Xbox said Ultimate still includes online multiplayer, cloud gaming, in-game benefits and other day-one releases. (news.xbox.com) Game Pass is Microsoft’s subscription bundle for Xbox and PC games, built around a monthly fee instead of buying each title separately. Call of Duty has been one of the service’s biggest selling points since Microsoft closed its Activision Blizzard deal in October 2023. (xbox.com ) (news.microsoft.com) The cut reverses part of a price increase Microsoft rolled out in 2025, when Xbox reorganized Game Pass into Essential, Premium and Ultimate tiers and kept Ultimate as the top plan. That left Ultimate subscribers paying more for the broadest bundle until this week’s reduction. (news.xbox.com 1) (news.xbox.com 2) Asha Sharma, who replaced Phil Spencer as Microsoft’s gaming chief in February, framed the move as a response to complaints that Game Pass had become too expensive. CNBC reported the price cut was her first major change in the role. (cnbc.com) (geekwire.com) Some outlets described the decision as a trade-off: a cheaper subscription in exchange for losing day-one access to one of gaming’s biggest annual releases. IGN reported that new Call of Duty entries will now reach the service roughly one year later. (ign.com) (videogameschronicle.com) For Xbox, the bet is that a $7 monthly cut will keep Game Pass attractive even without launch-day Call of Duty. For subscribers, the choice is simpler: pay less now, or buy the next Call of Duty separately if they want to play it on release day. (news.xbox.com) (cnbc.com)
