Xbox quietly cuts Call of Duty discount for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers despite raising the price by $10

Update: Following the publication of this article, a Microsoft spokesperson has offered the following comment to GamesRadar+.

"This is not specific to any one game and reflects all games and DLC purchases. Instead of a discount on the purchases, Ultimate and Premium subscribers will earn 10% and 5% - respectively - in points when purchasing select games and add-ons from the Game Pass library. Ultimate members continue to have 20% discount on select games from the Game Pass library.

"On top of that, all Rewards members will earn points when shopping games and add-ons on the Store, while Premium and Ultimate subscribers will earn even more, 2x and 4x respectively. See more detail on the Game Pass Rewards program here."

Original: Following the new price increase, fans have discovered that Xbox Game Pass has also discontinued the discount on Call of Duty Points for subscribers.

The latest Xbox Game Pass price hike has arguably been the biggest shakeup to the service yet, with Microsoft fracturing benefits across three different tiers, with the new middle 'Premium' tier losing out on the benefit of day one games from Xbox Game Studios. Meanwhile, Game Pass Ultimate – which keeps all the benefits – is getting a major price hike. However, players have quickly discovered that Game Pass Ultimate hasn't gone untouched after all.

As spotted by CharlieIntel (via Insider Gaming), Xbox has removed the 10% discount for Call of Duty add-ons such as Call of Duty Points and the BlackCell Battle Pass bundle for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. As you can imagine, plenty aren't entirely thrilled.

This is another thing that just cements to me that this entire Xbox Game Pass price hike is probably about Call of Duty. Black Ops 6 debuted day one on the subscription last year, presumably as a test from Microsoft to see how it would perform on the subscription.

Given the fact that Call of Duty titles are the only Xbox-published titles excluded from the new Xbox Game Pass Premium subscriptions guarantee that first-party games will arrive within a year of launch, and now this discount has been revoked, I'd wager that Black Ops 6 saw a significant dent from being on Game Pass, and this is an attempt to try and salvage Black Ops 7 now that you can't undo the decision to make it a day one release. That's all speculation, of course, but Call of Duty fans are definitely taking a big hit from these changes.

"Two words: cancel now" – Xbox Game Pass cancelations seemingly surge following Microsoft's tone-deaf post praising "more rewards" amid 50% price hike, and even GameStop's got jokes: "$29.99 every month. Own nothing"