Insider Suggests Call of Duty May Be Taken Off Game Pass

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Since the considerable acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, a primary point of discussion has been whether the iconic Call of Duty series will be incorporated into Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft has ultimately decided to include upcoming game releases, beginning with 2024’s Black Ops 6, which is being developed by Treyarch and Raven Software. Initially, this inclusion set records for both the franchise and Game Pass, but the long-term implications have raised concerns. Reports suggest that Microsoft may be contemplating the removal of the 2026 installment of Call of Duty from Game Pass.

In a recent podcast, gaming journalist Jez Corden discussed this potential development:

It’d be interesting to see if they take Call of Duty out of Game Pass this year, which is a possibility from what I’ve heard. I think it’ll kind of reveal some of the cracks in the strategy, possibly.

During the same episode, Corden elaborated on the negative impact Game Pass has had on the Call of Duty franchise:

Game Pass has disrupted Call of Duty’s business model in a pretty negative way. Microsoft has a formula, it’s called a member weighted something or other, with which they charge back Game Pass revenue to the studio. So if a big game like Call of Duty goes in, it is going to vacuum up a lot of that revenue, which kind of eats into how much money you’ve got month over month to actually get new content. And you need new content to prevent churn. So CoD is so big that it sort of harms Game Pass. But at the same time, the idea that you don’t have to buy Call of Duty and get it for cheaper kind of also hurts Call of Duty in reverse.

Compounding the situation, Microsoft increased the price of Game Pass Ultimate by 50% last October, targeting subscribers eager to access the latest CoD offerings. If Microsoft does proceed with removing Call of Duty from the service, a significant price adjustment for the subscription would likely be necessary.

This adjustment seems counterintuitive to resolving the ongoing concerns regarding Game Pass’s perceived value. Only a few months prior, Corden hinted at Microsoft’s possible strategy of adding subscription services, such as World of Warcraft, Fallout 1st, and Minecraft Realms, to entice players against the $30 price tag of Game Pass Ultimate. However, if Call of Duty is indeed removed, reducing the subscription cost may be the more viable path forward.

In the latest podcast episode, Corden also indicated that dataminer Red PHX had found hints regarding new tiers for Game Pass, codenamed Triton and Duet. These would reportedly focus solely on providing access to first-party titles, including classics such as Doom Eternal, Fallout 4, and Halo 5 Guardians. Such a development would offer gamers a more budget-conscious alternative.

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