Analysts say Xbox Game Pass price drop is ‘unsurprising’ after COD failed to significantly increase subscriptions

Analysts have said Microsoft’s decision to drop the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass isn’t surprising, given that the addition of Call of Duty had made little impact to subscription numbers.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it was dropping the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 / £22.99 to $22.99 / £16.99 per month, and PC Game Pass from $16.49 / £13.49 to $13.99 / £10.99.

It also announced that future Call of Duty games would not be available on either service on the day of release, and would instead be added the following holiday season (up to a year after release).

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Circana senior director Mat Piscatella and Ampere Analysis head of games research Piers Harding-Rolls both agreed this was inevitable, given that Xbox‘s hope it would see a large growth in Game Pass Ultimate subscribers by adding Call of Duty available on day one hasn’t played out that way.

“It was clear from very early on in the Call of Duty on Game Pass experiment that it did not lead to a significant increase in Xbox console sales or even subscriptions,” Piscatella said. “So, this change is not surprising at all. A little overdue, perhaps. But not surprising.”

Harding-Rolls agreed, saying: “The commercial reasoning for pursuing a subscription-first strategy for new releases the size of Call of Duty has not been realised.”

While the pair disagreed on whether the addition of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and 7 on Game Pass on day one had a negative effect on revenue, they both agreed that the price drop will likely lead to an increase in Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscriber numbers.

“Subscription spending has been one of the stronger areas of the video game market over the past two years, and is in a good position to continue growing as players look for value with their gaming dollars, particularly given what’s happening in everyday areas of consumer spending such as housing, food and now gas/fuel,” Piscatella explained. “The $29.99 monthly price was making the value part of that consumer calculation questionable.”

Microsoft’s new head of gaming Asha Sharma posted on X following the announcement of the Game Pass price cut, saying that “Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players” and that Xbox would “keep learning and evolving Game Pass to better match what matters to players”.