Microsoft dropped its Xbox Game Pass subscription service on Tuesday, April 21.
The price was slashed the fee by 23%. However, it removes a key perk, i.e., day-one access to new Call of Duty titles.
Game Pass Ultimate is priced at $29.99 but will now cost $22.99 monthly. The PC Game Pass will now be reduced by 15 percent, which will see the monthly price fall from $16.49 to $13.99. The pricing change takes immediate effect.
Going forward, the Call of Duty franchise will not become part of Game Pass immediately upon release but rather one year later during the following holiday period. All existing Call of Duty games on Game Pass are unaffected by the move.
While the major removal is Call of Duty, the regular monthly removals will continue, such as February’s 2026 removals of Monster Train or Injustice 2.
The announcement was made months after Microsoft appointed new gaming chief Asha Sharma, replacing Phil Spencer in February.
This comes on the heels of a tough few months for Xbox, which saw its gaming business revenues fall by approximately 10% in Q4 from the previous year, alongside a 32% decline in hardware sales following the cancellation of two key games that Microsoft was working on.
While this move means that Game Pass Ultimate users won’t be able to play Call of Duty when it is released, they still have access to hundreds of other games and online console gaming among other features.
