Microsoft announced this week that the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will be reduced from $29.99 to $22.99 per month. PC Game Pass will also see a price reduction, from $16.49 to $13.99 per month.
But there’s a catch…
Despite lowering the price of both Xbox Game Pass plans, the company announced that future Call of Duty titles will not be included in Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. Instead, they will be added to these subscriptions only about one year later. However, current titles in the franchise will remain in the catalog.
Why is this happening now?
According to the Seattle-based company, the change was made in response to various pieces of feedback received from the community.
What is Xbox Game Pass?
Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service from Microsoft that gives you access to a large library of games for a monthly fee — like the “Netflix of gaming.” Instead of buying each game separately, you pay a subscription and can download and play hundreds of titles while your membership is active.
Platform importance and reach
The gaming subscription service was launched in 2017. The most recent data (2024) indicated that it had over 34 million subscribers, but no further official updates have been released since then.
It is important not to assume that this is the total number of Xbox players. In 2024, Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) revealed that, across all platforms and devices (the company does not specify which ones), Microsoft had an impressive 500 million active users, showing that the subscription ecosystem still has significant room for growth.
How are competitors doing?
Nintendo does not offer a service as comprehensive as Game Pass. The Japanese company only provides Nintendo Switch Online, which has a more limited scope, mainly focused on classic games and, depending on the plan, access to a few more recent titles.
Sony, on the other hand, offers PlayStation Plus, which features a solid catalog and is more similar to Xbox Game Pass. It currently has over 51 million users.
