Call of Duty Nuked from Game Pass
Share the story:
With Microsoft gradually shifting away from a 1st party console platform holder and into a 3rd Party Publisher. We noted the trajectory years ago, but since the start of the current generation they have been making a clear statement of intent to grow its Game pass user base, and more so profits. Today they updated another big step in that journey, which not only increases prices but breaks down the tiers even further.
With the, too good to be true, announcement the behemoth that is Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would join the growing club of Day 1 on Game pass. It turns out that was indeed just that, as the new price hike and additional tiers means that a huge portion of the current Game pass subscribers will be forced to make a choice. Ironically, buy the game as per normal, well normal in a retro sense at least, or dig deeper into their pockets and pay the £2/$3 extra per month that the new Ultimate tier now costs from today. Well, for new subscribers at least, with existing subscribers not getting hit until September 2024 so be sure to renew early to get the most value.
This is not the only change though, with the current Game Pass core (which was largely a way to slowly replace Xbox Gold) is also being phased out. The current monthly price remains at £6.99/$9.99 per month but the yearly subscription now increases from £49.99/$55.99 to £55.99/$74.99, again for new subscribers from the 10th July and for existing subscribers from September 2024
- Game Pass Ultimate: Monthly increases up to 18% from £12.99/$16.99 to £14.99/$19.99
- PC Game Pass: Monthly increases up to 25% from £7.99/$9.99 to £9.99/$11.99
- Game Pass Core: Annual increases up to 25% from £49.99/$59.99 to £55.99/$74.99
The Core pass is not long for this world though, with Microsoft slipping in a brand new “Standard” tier that will replace the core option later this year. And, you guessed it, this will be more expensive than the existing base option. This will cost 50% over the price of the existing core option, coming in at £12.99/$14.99 per month and the worse part, is this will still not include Day 1 games. This does offer some boosts over the currently limited core base level, namely in the full Game pass library of games, including Xbox360 and OG Xbox titles. This is does offer much more over the 25 curated titles within the old base tier, but this also creates a further split. With a no Day 1 titles being available to this new tier that comes in at the same price as the old Ultimate tier. Meaning that everyone currently paying Ultimate that cannot afford or choices not to increase their tiers, will lose access to the single biggest reason for Game Pass, Day One 1st Party titles.
Although a cost increase, specifically, as the 15-25% increase is not vast in the great scheme of things. More so in the shift of a fundamental pillar for Game pass itself and reinforces the need for Xbox to recoup its huge $7.5 and $69bn investment respectively for Bethesda and Activision/Blizzard. In light of the mammoth 100 million target growth of Game pass by 2030 being a light year away from reality. Instead, Microsoft have taken the old fashioned, halve the amount in the box and charge 25% more, approach to close that deficit. The biggest sting for many Xbox players is this comes right on the cusp of what is likely to be Xbox’s most packed and varied 1st party Christmas periods since Game pass was launched. But now those same loyal customers and online influencers, are being rewarded with a lower value proposition than before as a reward.
Come Black Ops 6, Indiana Jones, Stalker 2 and other releases later this year, many gamer’s were looking forward to picking from a vast selection of brand new, AAA titles on their console or PC. Which is no longer as cost effective as it was prior to this uplift. Game pass still offers great value for those that want to pick from a selection of new games rather than chose what to buy across the year. But this is likely a trend that will continue upwards as more games are announced and may indeed be counter productive for a good portion of the install base. Pushing many to revert back to the purchase and own model we started with. But wait, Microsoft have seen this coming as this is a pincer movement to entrap and create a captive and managed market, the Steam model. As in parallel with these changes, Xbox are also phasing out physical ownership on their platform. Showing a good plan never dies, the DRM centered Xbox One launch just had to wait a generation. With the Xbox Series S digital only console warming the audience, now the oven is on full with the brand new and “adorably all digital” Xbox Series X model also drops the Disc Drive for a larger SSD. The limited edition disc model is likely a short term SKU to allow Xbox to clear any remaining backlog of hardware. So, just like the good old days, buy them while they are hot, as the future could get more expensive by the day.