According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Xbox is set to make a big change to its strategy by launching the next Call of Duty title on Game Pass day one. The report states Microsoft will announce the news itself soon.
The WSJ writes, “Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its video game sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime, lucrative approach of only selling it a la carte.”
Call of Duty’s fate with Game Pass has remained one of the biggest questions surrounding the acquisition of Microsoft. This latest update isn’t completely surprising, as last week Xbox president Sarah Bond said first-party titles “across the whole slate” would be coming to the service.
New Call of Duty games typically sell for $70 and are regularly some of the highest-selling games of the year, often shifting upward of 20 million units. Call of Duty will, of course, continue to release at full price on PlayStation consoles, but bringing a new game onto Game Pass could certainly risk cannibalizing the series’ high sales.
Cannibalization has already been a major concern with Xbox Game Pass over the years, with the topic coming back up with the recent closure of studios like Tango Gameworks, the studio that released the wildly popular Hi-Fi Rush in 2023.
Past that, there’s also a chance that releasing Call of Duty on Game Pass could lead to another price hike, as Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision has put a lot of financial scrutiny on the Xbox brand.
In June 2023, the price of Xbox Game Pass increased from $9.99 a month to $10.99 a month, with Microsoft saying the increase was to “reflect the competitive conditions in each market.”
Although it hasn’t been outright confirmed, the next Call of Duty game is expected to be revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9. A special presentation with a deep dive into a new game is scheduled directly after the showcase, and based on the art used, many have speculated that a new Call of Duty: Black Ops is going to be revealed.
