Xbox will reportedly add this year’s Call of Duty (which has yet to be officially announced) to Game Pass at launch, a first for both the series and the publisher. Of course, this theoretically means that those who subscribe to the service will be able to get the game without paying the usual price.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will announce that “CoD” will be available on Game Pass at a presentation on June 9. The reported changes would mark a very noteworthy shift in Xbox strategy amid the debate over whether Call of Duty will come to Game Pass. For console manufacturers, whether inside or outside Game Pass, the responsibility is more valuable, which has been a point of contention in recent months.
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The two aspects of the discussion are these. Wouldn’t it be better to continue selling Call of Duty games at full price the traditional way, as Activision currently does, and make tons of cash since the series is typically, if not, the best-selling series on the market every year? One of the games? Or is the potential boost to Game Pass from putting the game on the service at launch worth the dent in those strong traditional sales numbers?
This is a conundrum for Microsoft, and it’s likely that a decision has already been made on whether this report is accurate. If so, we’ll have to see if the change in strategy introduces any additional issues, such as an increase in the price of any Game Pass subscription tiers, or any additional fees that might be attached to playing CoD exclusively through the service, as a way to help offset this One way the move could result in revenue skewing.
We’ll have to see what happens, but if you want to see if Call of Duty on Game Pass fits the current state of gaming on Xbox, be sure to check out this feature.