Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Price Drops To $22.99 A Month, But Future Call of Duty Launches Are Delayed
Dave W. Shanahan 5 minutes read
Price cut for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC
Xbox has quietly rolled out a major pricing change for its subscription service, dropping the monthly cost of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass for players starting April 21, 2026. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate falls from 29.99 USD per month to 22.99 USD, while PC Game Pass drops from 16.49 USD to 13.99 USD, with regional prices varying based on local currencies and taxes. In a new update on the official Xbox Wire blog, the company frames this as a response to player feedback after a controversial price hike last year.
These changes effectively roll back part of the steep 2025 jump that took Ultimate up to 29.99 USD, a move that had sparked plenty of community frustration and even prompted some players to cancel or hunt for discounted codes through third‑party retailers. Now, Microsoft is signaling that it wants to keep Game Pass competitive in a crowded subscription landscape, especially as more publishers experiment with their own services and bundles.
Call of Duty won’t be day‑one on Game Pass anymore
The good news on pricing comes with a catch: future Call of Duty titles will no longer launch day one on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. Starting with this year’s new Call of Duty, Xbox says new entries in the series will join Game Pass during the following holiday season, roughly a year after their initial release. Existing Call of Duty games already in the Game Pass library will remain available, so current subscribers won’t lose access to the older entries they’re playing now.
This shift essentially walks back one of the biggest selling points of Game Pass in 2024 and 2025, when day‑one Call of Duty launches were heavily marketed as proof of the value of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Recent reporting had already hinted that Microsoft was reconsidering day‑one availability for Call of Duty because boxed sales and premium digital purchases were under pressure, and insiders suggested that Game Pass could be hurting full‑price revenue for the franchise.
What stays the same in Game Pass Ultimate
Despite the change to Call of Duty launches, Xbox is keeping the rest of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate package intact. Ultimate members still get access to hundreds of games on Xbox console and PC, including current Call of Duty entries, day‑one releases from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda, EA Play access in supported regions, cloud streaming, in‑game benefits, and online console multiplayer. Microsoft also continues to offer multiple tiers—Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, Game Pass Essential, and PC Game Pass—so players can pick a plan based on where they actually play.
From a value perspective, the lower price point helps offset the loss of day‑one Call of Duty, especially for players who routinely use cloud streaming or bounce between console and PC. For single‑platform users who primarily care about one or two specific franchises, the calculus is more complicated, but Ultimate still consolidates a lot of services that would otherwise be separate subscriptions.
Why Xbox is making this change now
Officially, Xbox says it’s responding to “a lot of feedback” from a player base that spans many regions and play styles, and emphasizes that there’s no single model that works for everyone. Unofficially, industry watchers have been expecting some kind of adjustment ever since Microsoft pushed Game Pass Ultimate up to 29.99 USD and then faced backlash around subscription fatigue and rising costs.
Moving Call of Duty away from day‑one launches on Game Pass is likely about striking a balance between subscription engagement and traditional sales. The franchise still sells tens of millions of copies each year at full price, and keeping the latest entry off Game Pass for its first 9–12 months gives Xbox a chance to capture that revenue while still using the service to extend the game’s lifecycle later on with a “holiday season” Game Pass push.
What this means for subscribers
If you’re already paying for Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, your bill should go down on the next renewal cycle as the new price kicks in for your region. The content mix—big first‑party day‑ones (outside of Call of Duty), third‑party partnerships, and a steady cadence of indie releases—appears to be unchanged for now.
For Call of Duty fans, though, the takeaway is clear: if you want the next CoD at launch, you’ll have to buy it or wait roughly a year for it to hit Game Pass during the following holiday season. That’s a big shift from the last few years, and it may push some players back toward physical or digital purchases while they lean on Game Pass for everything else in their library.
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