Call Of Duty’s Inclusion With Game Pass Will Reportedly Bring Changes To The Service
Highlights
- Xbox Game Pass changes expected with new Call of Duty release, possible tier reorganization and pricing adjustments.
- Wall Street Journal reports Call of Duty coming to Game Pass at launch, raising concerns about price differences between PlayStation and Xbox players.
- Xbox likely to adjust pricing for Game Pass and PlayStation 5 versions to minimize stark differences, potential announcement during Xbox Game Showcase.
Xbox’s Game Pass service will be altered following the release of this year’s unannounced Call of Duty, it’s claimed by an insider.
This information comes courtesy of Shinobi602, a known insider, who replied to a user on ResetEra (reported by VGC). The original poster speculated price increases and tier reorganisation to prepare for the launch of Call of Duty, to which Shinobi replied – “There will be changes, yes.”
XDefiant Just Announced One Feature That Actually Might Make It A ‘COD Killer’
Ubisoft has just announced a game-changing feature for XDefiant.
The inclusion of Call of Duty with Game Pass is not yet confirmed. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that, according to its sources, the upcoming first-person shooter will be coming to Game Pass at launch.
Game Changer
This may yet prove controversial, as PlayStation 5 players may be aggrieved if they’re paying ‘full price’ or significantly more for this year’s Call of Duty than their Xbox counterparts. Any change in price structure is likely to make Call of Duty more expensive to access on Game Pass, a prudent business move considering Call of Duty is often the best-selling game of any given year.
If Call of Duty were included in the current iteration of Game Pass and priced normally on PlayStation 5, then PlayStation players would be paying x6 to x7 times more than their Xbox counterparts. With the caveat that those who paid full price now ‘own’ a copy of Call of Duty. Game Pass’ tiering system is already convoluted, so this is a useful opportunity for Microsoft to clean up the service.
Considering one of the contested aspects of Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard acquisition was access to popular titles like Call of Duty, I imagine Xbox will bring the price of the PlayStation 5 version down, and the price of the Game Pass version up, so there isn’t such a stark difference.
The new Call of Duty is currently unannounced, but Xbox revealed its Game Showcase on June 9 will be followed by a digital presentation for a ‘redacted’ game, leading many to speculate that the new title is in the Call of Duty: Black Ops series (subseries?).
Phil Spencer Wants Call Of Duty Parity Across All Platforms, Including Nintendo
“The goal is 100% parity across all platforms as much as we can for launch and content.”
