Xbox Issues Official Game Pass Warning

Xbox has sent a push notification to Xbox Game Pass subscribers with a reminder/warning about future plans for the service. Xbox Game Pass has experienced dramatic transformations over the years. The service has been split into various tiers, and its price has fluctuated quite a bit.

Late last year, Microsoft made the controversial decision to increase the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $29.99 per month. This plan was eventually walked back, with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate settling at $22.99. The decision to reduce the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was met with a great deal of praise from the community, though it didn’t come without a cost. Recently, Xbox decided to remind fans of the cost of cheaper Game Pass Ultimate with a warning sent directly to its users.

Xbox Game Pass Losing 12 Games on July 15

Xbox Game Pass is suffering one of its largest exoduses in years on July 15, When a dozen titles are scheduled to leave the service.

Xbox Game Pass is Warning Subscribers About Call of Duty

Xbox lowering the price of Game Pass Ultimate means that Call of Duty games will no longer be day one releases. This was announced back when the price reduction was first confirmed, but Xbox decided to send a reminder for whatever reason. The reminder reiterated that the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will not be a day one Xbox Game Pass game, but it will be added to the service in Holiday 2027. Anyone that wants to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 this year will have to purchase the game outright, something that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers haven’t had to do for the past couple of years.

Call of Duty being on Game Pass is estimated to have cost Microsoft hundreds of millions of dollars, so it makes sense that this year’s entry’s Game Pass debut is delayed by a year. And while some Game Pass subscribers may be upset by this, it doesn’t really equate to higher spending. The $8 per month saved on Game Pass Ultimate should make it so subscribers have enough to buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 without spending more money than they would have anyway. Of course, this doesn’t apply to those that have successfully leveraged things like Microsoft Rewards points to essentially get free Game Pass, but still, the takeaway is that even though CoD is no longer day one on Game Pass, it’s not really costing subscribers more money than they would have paid if they decide to buy it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set to launch on October 23, and is the first true ninth-generation Call of Duty release. All previous Call of Duty games on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S were cross-gen releases that were also available on PS4 and Xbox One. The fact that Modern Warfare is finally leaving the last-generation consoles behind has made it a little more exciting than other recent entries in the series. Infinity Ward back at the helm is also inspiring confidence in the project, though the jury is still out on MW4.

Even though Modern Warfare 4 is skipping Game Pass, subscribers still have plenty of exciting day one games to look forward to this year. The big holiday 2026 game is Gears of War: E-Day, which will be available on day one when it releases October 6.