Microsoft is lowering the price of its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription plan. Starting today, Game Pass Ultimate will be priced at $22.99 per month instead of $29.99 – a 23% decrease. The price of PC Game Pass is also being lowered from $16.49 to $13.99 a month.
There is a cost to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass becoming more affordable. Xbox will no longer bring future Call of Duty games to the service on the day of their release, with new titles arriving into Game Pass Ultimate the following holiday season. Microsoft has confirmed that Call of Duty titles already available across the various Game Pass tiers will remain in place.
Speaking on the Xbox Wire, a Microsoft rep said this of the change: "Our players cover a wide breadth 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. We'll continue to listen and learn."
"This change responds to a lot of feedback we've gotten"
This reversal comes six months after Microsoft hiked up the price of Game Pass Ultimate by 50%, from its original $19.99 per month price point to $29.99. While Microsoft attempted to justify the increase with a variety of upgrades – increasing the library of available titles, improving the quality of Xbox Cloud Gaming, and introducing Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft Plus Classics – the move was received poorly by players.
The issue of Game Pass pricing has clearly been top of mind for Asha Sharma, the new Microsoft Gaming CEO. In an internal memo which was obtained by The Verge, Sharma reportedly reaffirmed that "Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox," whilst admitting that it had become too expensive: "It's also clear that the current model isn't the final one. Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation."
The decision to no longer bring new Call of Duty titles into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from the day of release suggests that big changes are likely coming to the existing Xbox strategy. The ability to access new video games developed under the Xbox umbrella from the day of release has long been the biggest benefit of holding a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and this shift raises uncertainty about how the model may change in the future under the new leadership team at Xbox.
When Microsoft completed its historic 75 billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, it was widely believed that Call of Duty could power Game Pass to reach new heights. 2024's Black Ops 6 was the first title in the franchise to launch directly into Game Pass, followed by last year's Black Ops 7.
While Microsoft doesn't consistently report sales or subscription data to the public, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reported that "Game Pass set a new quarterly record for revenue and grew its PC subscriber base by over 30%" back in January 2025, whilst citing that "Black Ops 6 was the top-selling game on Xbox and PlayStation this quarter and saw more players in its launch quarter than any other paid release in the franchise's history."
This setup, it would appear, is no longer sustainable for Xbox, Game Pass, and the Call of Duty franchise. The news that Game Pass is becoming more affordable will no doubt be met well by the wider Xbox community, but it does expose a need for Asha Sharma to redefine the market position and value proposition of the Xbox brand as we look beyond the Xbox Games Showcase this June and towards the launch of Project Helix in the future.
