Microsoft has dropped the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, effective today. PC Game Pass is also getting cheaper, falling from $16.49 to $13.99 a month. The cuts are significant, but they come with a trade-off that will sting for a lot of subscribers: future Call of Duty games are no longer coming to Game Pass at launch.
Starting with titles releasing this year, new Call of Duty games will arrive in Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season, roughly a year after launch. Existing Call of Duty titles already in the library stay put, and current subscribers keep access to everything available today.
The Math for Subscribers
The price drop saves subscribers $84 a year on Ultimate, bringing the annual cost down from roughly $360 to $276. For anyone who plays Game Pass for the breadth of the library rather than specifically for Call of Duty day one, this is a straightforward win. For the millions of players who subscribed partly because Modern Warfare or Warzone or whatever comes next would be in the service on launch day, this changes the value calculation meaningfully.
If you want to play the next Call of Duty at launch, you will need to buy it separately. A standard release runs around $70, which more than offsets a year of the price savings. Microsoft is essentially unbundling its biggest franchise from the subscription at the same moment it makes the subscription cheaper.
What Is Still Included
Game Pass Ultimate still covers hundreds of games on Xbox console and PC, online multiplayer, in-game benefits, and day-one releases for major first-party titles outside of Call of Duty. Forza Horizon 6, due next month, is expected to land in Game Pass at launch. The service also includes EA Play and access to Xbox Cloud Gaming for streaming on mobile and browser.
If you want to pick up a Game Pass subscription, Microsoft sells gift cards directly on Amazon that work across all tiers:
Microsoft noted that prices may vary by region. The announcement comes alongside a stretch of renewed Xbox activity under new CEO Asha Sharma, who took over earlier this year and has been vocal about listening to player feedback. Whether removing day-one Call of Duty counts as listening is, to put it gently, a matter of perspective.