“Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma said in a post on X. <\/p>\n
REDMOND, Wash. \u2014 Microsoft on Tuesday slashed the price of its flagship Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and announced\u00a0<\/a>that new “Call of Duty” titles will no longer be available on the service at launch, a sweeping reset for the company’s gaming business that comes months after a deeply unpopular price hike<\/a> drew fierce backlash from players.<\/p>\n Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, effective immediately. PC Game Pass will fall from $16.49 to $13.99 per month. The Essential and Premium console plans will remain at $9.99 and $14.99, respectively.<\/p>\n The cuts arrive with a significant trade-off. Beginning this year, future releases of “Call of Duty” will not be available in Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. New titles will be added during the following holiday season, roughly a year after their initial debut. Existing “Call of Duty” games already in the Game Pass library will remain available.<\/p>\n “Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma said in a post on X.\u00a0<\/a>“We’ll keep learning and evolving Game Pass to better match what matters to players.”<\/p>\n The move is one of the first major decisions from Sharma, who took on the role after long-time CEO Phil Spencer stepped down in February. Earlier this month, Sharma said in a memo to staff that Game Pass was too expensive for players and vowed to make changes to improve the service’s appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players. Starting today, we\u2019re dropping the price from $29.99 to $22.99\/month. \u2014 Asha (@asha_shar) April 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n
Tuesday’s cuts represent a partial reversal of years of escalating subscription costs. In August 2023, Game Pass Ultimate received a $2 price increase. In July 2024, Microsoft announced another round of changes \u2014 including a $3 increase for Game Pass Ultimate \u2014 and replaced the Console tier with a new, more limited “Standard” option that did not include day-one titles.<\/p>\n The steepest increase came last fall. In late 2025, Microsoft raised the subscription price by roughly 50%, from $19.99 to $29.99 per month, sparking immediate backlash from players who felt the service was losing its reputation as the best deal in gaming. The increase represented a 76% price jump for long-term subscribers in under 18 months.<\/p>\n Existing Game Pass members will see the new rates applied to their accounts starting April 22, while anyone who signs up Tuesday will be charged the lower prices immediately.<\/p>\n It’s nearly unheard of to see a subscription price decrease, and Xbox’s price drop comes as streamers and gaming companies continue to raise prices across the board. Last month, Netflix raised prices for the second time in less than two years. Sony increased the price of its PlayStation 5 console by $100 earlier this month, and Microsoft itself has raised the price on the Xbox Series X amid tariff pressures and ballooning development costs.<\/p>\n
The decision to delay new “Call of Duty” releases reflects the mounting financial strain of including the blockbuster franchise in the subscription. Xbox reportedly lost $300 million in “Call of Duty” sales from 2023 to 2024, with over 80% of all CoD sales coming from PlayStation, according to Bloomberg.<\/a><\/p>\n Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will continue to have access to hundreds of games on Xbox consoles and PCs, including current “Call of Duty” titles, in-game benefits, online console multiplayer, unlimited Xbox Cloud Gaming, and major day-one releases from other publishers.<\/p>\n
Future Call of Duty titles will no longer join Game Pass Ultimate on day one. They will join this tier the following holiday after launch (about\u2026<\/p>\n
\nFrequent price increases faced backlash <\/p>\n
\nCost of lost ‘Call of Duty’ sales <\/p>\n