Microsoft acknowledges that Call of Duty is a profitable business
After Xbox CEO Asha Sharma admitted last week that “Game Pass has become too expensive for players,” Microsoft is reducing the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Starting today, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate drops from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, and PC Game Pass moves to $13.99, down from $16.49 a month.
The price reductions are partly due to future Call of Duty titles not being added to Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. “New Call of Duty games will be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season (about a year later), while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available,” says Microsoft.
The rest of the Game Pass lineup remains unchanged, after Microsoft initially increased prices in October. Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and Essential will continue to include access to Xbox Cloud Gaming. “Our players cover a wide range 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,” says Microsoft. “We’ll continue to listen and learn.”
I wrote last week that the Game Pass price increase was partly due to Microsoft’s decision to include Call of Duty in the subscription service. I reported nearly two years ago that Microsoft had debated whether to introduce new Call of Duty releases into Game Pass, with some within the company concerned that Game Pass might undermine revenue from typical Call of Duty sales.
Microsoft went ahead and added Call of Duty to Game Pass, but the removal of new franchise entries from the service suggests that including Activision’s significant revenue-generating title in the subscription was a mistake.