Microsoft lower the price of Game Pass but remove COD.

[MrBiron 1,526]

Microsoft Cuts Price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

WWW.IGN.COM

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Microsoft has dropped the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 per month to $22.99 per month, while PC Game Pass is being reduced from $16.49 per month to $13.99 per month. Both changes...

 

They added COD to Game Pass with BO6 but then had to increase the price to cover lost sales. Seems that they then lost subscribers due to the ridiculous price increase. So now they're lowering the cost and removing COD.

What a complete fuck up by everybody involved 🤣

[Luseth 2,226]

Yup, someone there thought that COD was the best game in the world and everyone wants to play it so from their perspective it made sense.

 

Ultimately they were expecting everyone on the subscription to pay for the game that probably half of the people subbing wanted essentially subsidising those people.

 

Absolute madness, in fact the initial outcry should really have been the wake up call they needed, instead they have persisted for a few months now and they won't suddenly get those subscribers back now. Many of them will feel a little burnt and will be hesitant about committing to the service again.

 

I had the subscription for my handheld and ended up cancelling it and unlikely will pick it up again soon now unless some special games come to the service.

[cyberninja2601 1,128]

It might have went better for them if the game was anygood. I got the game pass, tried cod for a month/maybe two. it was garbage so I cancelled the game pass. You can get a lot of the same games on steam cheaper than the cost of game pass so it makes not sense. 

[phil bottle 10,323]

Yeah i can't see myself going back. If they ever do a Fallout 3, New Vegas remaster, or Elder Scrolls 6 (won't hold my breath) I'll just buy the games themselves.

[J4MES OX4D 10,489]

Smart move from Microsoft to fool consumers once more. Even though the pass is $7 cheaper now, it's still $7 more expensive than it was several months prior. Removing Call of Duty will see them getting paid massively at retail once again, so any freeloaders who choose not to renew the pass even at the cheaper rate, Microsoft will still rake the money in from unit sales of the game which will comfortably exceed any lost revenue at the original pass increase rate. 

 

Arguably $23 a month without a flagship title like Call of Duty is an outrageous rip-off in itself. The only consolation is that the games on the pass, particularly the indie games may actually get to make a better share of income without COD absorbing it all. Some indie titles were probably lucky to walk away with 30 cents an install on products that would cost £20 at retail. 

[cyberninja2601 1,128]

On 5/5/2026 at 5:31 PM, J4MES OX4D said:

Smart move from Microsoft to fool consumers once more. Even though the pass is $7 cheaper now, it's still $7 more expensive than it was several months prior. Removing Call of Duty will see them getting paid massively at retail once again, so any freeloaders who choose not to renew the pass even at the cheaper rate, Microsoft will still rake the money in from unit sales of the game which will comfortably exceed any lost revenue at the original pass increase rate. 

 

Arguably $23 a month without a flagship title like Call of Duty is an outrageous rip-off in itself. The only consolation is that the games on the pass, particularly the indie games may actually get to make a better share of income without COD absorbing it all. Some indie titles were probably lucky to walk away with 30 cents an install on products that would cost £20 at retail. 

 

 

I think you analysis is flawed. If you want to play on Xbox and you want to MP games it's going to cost you $9.99 (game pass essential). So the cost for Game pass ultimate is really and extra $13. 

 

Now ultimate gives you cloud gaming on top of stuff, is it worth it to people. Don't know but I have been able to play some of the games on Cloud without have an Xbox X or having a bunch of games on my HD. So the value is not just the games. 

 

The two bottom tiers on playstation are same price. the top one is cheaper at $18. 

 

So if you want to MP game on console that's the price you got to pay or you go PC

[J4MES OX4D 10,489]

23 hours ago, cyberninja2601 said:

I think you analysis is flawed. If you want to play on Xbox and you want to MP games it's going to cost you $9.99 (game pass essential)

People really shouldn't have to pay to play online. Although this is nothing to do with the game pass, this is an extremely outdated model from the 360 days. Most of the burden of content servers and services lie with the 3rd parties now so it's even more unjustifiable for Microsoft to charge a fee. Xbox Live back in the day was a unique and almost groundbreaking platform but now all features are standard and expected and it's free on every PC platform. 

 

23 hours ago, cyberninja2601 said:

Now ultimate gives you cloud gaming on top of stuff, is it worth it to people. Don't know but I have been able to play some of the games on Cloud without have an Xbox X or having a bunch of games on my HD. So the value is not just the games.

Cloud gaming should not be costed into the game pass because that just blurs revenue and makes the majority of gamers feel like they are paying for something they don't use, will never use and ultimately don't want. it really should be a separate service altogether. Game Pass should retain its identity of a subscription service to a range of games for the best price possible. Sony may have convoluted their entire business with PS+, PS NOW and tiers within but Microsoft should be able to differentiate the models. Less than half of Xbox customers have used Cloud Gaming and I expect many of those did it just to try it once. Unless 50%+ are using it each month regularly, it should not be part of the Ultimate offering. Microsoft have spent years trying to blend their entire service to make it appear more popular. 

 

On 5/12/2026 at 4:58 PM, cyberninja2601 said:

The two bottom tiers on playstation are same price. the top one is cheaper at $18. 

 

So if you want to MP game on console that's the price you got to pay or you go PC

Sony are a shambles - they confused the hell out of everyone with their bloated tiers and were then charging people £40 to stream 10 year old games for 2 weeks which you could buy in the sale for £3. The trouble with the console industry is prices are rising and nobody can provide a true justification as to why. One does it and they all do it. Nintendo puts games up to £70 and everyone follows. Sony ups their consoles by 10% and then the rest follow and now Microsoft have set the pass standard so Sony will probably raise at some stage despite having no tangible offering or true justification.