Xbox under Microsoft’s new gaming CEO, Asha Sharma is already seeing changes as the company, in a Xbox Wire post, has announced that its dropping monthly subscription price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 USD / $33.99 CAD to $22.99 USD / $25.99 CAD. That’s not all, as the PC Game Pass is also getting a similar price drop from $16.49 USD / $19.99 CAD to $13.99 USD / $16.99 CAD per month.
Alongside that, this year Xbox will no longer launch new Call of Duty titles day-and-date on Game Pass and instead will release on the subscription service “about a year later” during the following holiday season. The update adds that currently available Call of Duty titles aren’t going away and the ones that have already been added to the Game Pass library will continue to be accessible to subscribers.
It looks like no longer doing a day-and-date release for the next Call of Duty game coming this year and every year following was Microsoft’s way of justifying a price decrease on what was used to be called the “best deal in gaming,” maybe the cheaper price point is a step to get back to those days but we’ll see.
“Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far. We’ll continue to listen and learn. Thank you for being a part of the Xbox community, ” Microsoft said in a statement via Xbox Wire.
Although it’s not a huge decrease as Cheesemeister on Bluesky notes that the price of admission for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is still up by 35 per cent compared to the last two years or so. Over the years, Microsoft has increased the price of its Ultimate subscription service as it blew up all the way to $30 a month, all during a time where things are already expensive to purchase.
The pricing update while nice to see, just brings the monthly subscription price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate back to where it was at in September 2024 and not to when it was as more consumer-friendly at $14.99 USD per month in 2019; which feels. a little nostalgic as I’ve looked back at the past prices of Xbox Game Pass from over the years.
