Call of Duty games coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one lasted all of two releases as Microsoft announces big changes and a welcome price cut
The service is still more expensive than this time last year
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- Xbox Game is about to get cheaper and change a little
- Game Pass Ultimate will drop to $22.99 a month, while PC Game Pass cost $13.99
- This comes after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the service had "become too expensive" in a leaked memo
Xbox has announced that it is cutting the price of its Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass services, and that it will no longer offer new Call of Duty games at launch.
As detailed in a brief Xbox Wire blog post, Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99 a month, while PC Game Pass will now cost $13.99 rather than $16.49.
New Call of Duty games will also only become available "about a year" after they release. Call of Duty titles which are already on the service, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and its follow-up Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, will continue to be accessible.
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The news comes from a leaked internal memo that revealed that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma thought Game Pass had "become too expensive for players" and wanted to "evolve" the service. "We need a better value equation," she said.
Although Game Pass is about to get cheaper, these new prices are still higher than they were this time last year. The price of Game Pass went up across all subscription tiers in October 2025, with Ultimate rising to $29.99 / £22.99 per month, up from $19.99 / £14.99 per month.
The company also stopped offering a 12-month package, which gave buyers the plan at a slightly cheaper cost.
The Verge reported that one of the reasons for that price hike was the move towards including Call of Duty on the service day one - a practice that presumably decreased valuable launch sales.
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Dash is an experienced tech journalist who specializes in video games, electronic entertainment products, and the wider industry that surrounds them. He currently serves as the Gaming Editor at TechRadar, leading our review, preview, feature, and news coverage of the latest and greatest releases.
Before joining the team, he was Contributing Writer at PLAY (formerly Official PlayStation Magazine UK) and has written articles for many of the UK's other biggest gaming magazines including the likes of Edge, PC Gamer, and SFX.
Now, when he's not getting his greasy little mitts on the newest hardware or gaming gadget, he can be found listening to J-pop or feverishly devouring the latest Nintendo Switch otome.
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