Microsoft has also reduced the price of its Xbox Game Pass video game subscription service, Microsoft Gaming boss Asha Sharma has announced
Microsoft’s gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass will be coming down in price from today, but future Call of Duty titles will no longer be available on the service at launch. Other games from Microsoft-owned studios will still be playable on Game Pass from the day of their release, and older Call of Duty games will remain available, the company has clarified.
Last October, Microsoft increased the price of its top-tier Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription by almost 50%. From today the price will reduce from £22.99/month to £16.99/month in the UK, and from $29.99 to $22.99 a month in the US. PC Game Pass will also drop from $16.49 to $13.99/£13.49 to £10.99 a month.
Microsoft acquired the developer of the blockbuster Call of Duty series, Activision, in 2023 in a $68.7bn deal, and 2024’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the first game in the series to launch on Game Pass. A Bloomberg report citing a former Xbox employee estimated that Microsoft lost $300m in sales as a result of making Call of Duty part of its all-you-can-play service. Forthcoming Call of Duty games will now retail at full price (usually £70/$80), and will arrive on Game Pass around a year after launch.
