Microsoft is making a major change to Xbox Game Pass by lowering the price of two important plans. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass are both getting cheaper, which may sound like great news for players at first. However, the change also comes with a big trade-off: future Call of Duty games will no longer launch on Game Pass on day one.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is dropping from $29.99 per month to $22.99 per month. That is a large cut and makes the plan more affordable for people who use Game Pass on both console and PC. PC Game Pass is also getting a price drop, moving from $16.49 per month to $13.99 per month.
In a blog post, Microsoft confirmed it's not changing the prices of all Game Pass plans. Xbox Game Pass Essential will stay at $9.99 per month, while the Premium plan will continue to cost $14.99 per month.
Microsoft is lowering Game Pass prices after complaints, but the Call of Duty change may divide subscribers
The move comes shortly after reports that new Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma said Game Pass had become too expensive for many players. With this price cut, Microsoft appears to be responding to that concern and trying to make its subscription service easier to afford.
The company said its players come from different places and have different needs, so there is no single plan that works perfectly for everyone. It also said the new pricing is based on feedback it has received from users.
Still, the biggest part of the announcement is not the lower price. It is the change to Call of Duty. Over the last couple of years, Microsoft had started adding new Call of Duty games to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on release day. That helped make the service more attractive, especially after Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard.
Now, that day-one benefit is going away for future Call of Duty releases. Microsoft says the 2026 Call of Duty game, which has not yet been officially announced, will come to Game Pass during the following holiday season instead. This means subscribers may have to wait around a year after launch before getting access through Game Pass.
Current Call of Duty games already available on the service are not being removed. Ultimate subscribers will still get access to hundreds of games, online console multiplayer, in-game benefits, and other major day-one releases.
This change may be good for players who wanted a cheaper Game Pass plan and do not care much about playing Call of Duty on launch day. But for fans who subscribed mainly for new Call of Duty releases, the price cut may not feel like enough.
Microsoft seems to be trying to balance value and cost. Game Pass is now cheaper, but it is also losing one of its biggest launch-day benefits.
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