Just over half a year ago, Microsoft announced that it was increasing the price of its highest tier of Xbox Game Pass by 50%, with the price soaring from $20 a month to $30. Today, the Xbox maker compromised on that decision in a bid to make the subscription cheaper again, but closer inspection shows that not much has actually changed. At least, if you still plan to play Call of Duty annually.
Microsoft has, with immediate effect, reduced the monthly price of Game Pass Ultimate from $30 to just $23. To compensate for that, the annual release of Call of Duty will now be excluded from the service, with each new iteration only being added to the Game Pass library approximately a year later. What the price decrease achieves is an annual saving of $84, but also the exclusion of a game that will cost $70 at launch. So if you’re still planning to jump into one of the biggest franchises in gaming on day one, and remain subscribed for the rest of Game Pass’ benefits, your actual saving is just $14 annually.
Why would Microsoft give that away for seemingly nothing? Likely because the number of active Game Pass subscribers who will purchase Call of Duty at launch irrespective of this change is a lot smaller than the two other demographics the new policy is meant to attract. First is lapsed subscribers who balked at the previous 50% price hike and abandoned the service, who might be enticed back into renewing their subscription despite the price still having increased by over 10% compared to six months ago. The other is the customer who only plans to purchase Call of Duty and little else each year, with those sales no longer cannibalized by a service that made it far cheaper to do so.
It’s a clear and relatively risk-averse change to the overall Game Pass offering that will likely grab a lot of attention, especially given how soon it comes after Asha Sharma took over as Xbox CEO following the departure of Phil Spencer. It gives the feeling of a company that is listening to its customers without drastically changing how much money it is still potentially making off of them. That isn’t meant to make you feel duped, and this change certainly can feel like a win to anyone who didn’t care much for Call of Duty or vice versa. But it also shows how slyly these levers can be pulled, and how easy it can be for an overall price increase to still look like you’re the one getting away with something.