Analyst Says Game Pass Price Drop Was 'Unsurprising' as Call of Duty Did Not Significantly Boost Sales - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 22 April 2026 / 2,560 Views
Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana Mat Piscatella and Ampere Analysis' Piers Harding-Rolls speaking with GamesIndustry stated they were "unsurprised" with the Xbox Game Pass price drop.
Microsoft this week announced it has lowered the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 a month and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99 a month. In order to justify the lower price, starting this year future Call of Duty titles will no longer join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch and instead be added the following holiday.
"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," said Piscatella. "So, this change is not surprising at all. A little overdue, perhaps. But not surprising."
Piers Harding-Rolls added that "the commercial reasoning for pursuing a subscription-first strategy for new releases the size of CoD has not been realised. Its inclusion in Game Pass was hoped to turbo-charge the service, but these short-term intense boosts of subscribers taking advantage of cheaper access to one of the most popular premium games available have not been able to be sustained for the long term.
"Microsoft was leaving a substantial amount of revenue on the table through a loss in premium sales. The data has never suggested to me that Call of Duty's shift into Game Pass had as big an impact on sales of the game. And I am certainly not convinced at all that the inclusion of Call of Duty on Game Pass on day 1 had any significant impact on sales of the game on, say, PlayStation platforms. If future versions of Call of Duty deliver the experience its players want, then sales will thrive regardless of its inclusion or exclusion from Game Pass."
Both analysts agree the price drop for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass are a welcome change that should help increase the number of subscribers.
The inclusion of Call of Duty lead to "pricing Game Pass Ultimate out of reach for many, and this change in approach is a balanced solution to these challenges," according to Harding-Rolls.
Piscatella added, "I think the price reduction should help subscriber numbers grow. Although, I am doubtful it will lead to higher Game Pass spending short-term given the discount. But we'll see. Content is one of the biggest drivers of subs (and cancellations) so perhaps there will be some other surprises that will help drive subscription 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. The $29.99 monthly price was making the value part of that consumer calculation questionable."
Harding-Rolls believes the price drop "will see Game Pass ARPU rise once again in 2026, with a reduced chance of subscriber churn compared to the significant price hikes implemented in October 2025."
He added, "If anything, this is a continuation of ex-Xbox CEO Phil Spencer’s legacy that prompted the release of previously exclusive games on other competing platforms."
Harding-Rolls does not believe removing Call of Duty at launch from the service does not mean the death day one games.
"A new windowing approach for Call of Duty does not mean the death of day-one game releases in Game Pass," he said. "This is still a legitimate new release strategy for select games and first-party releases will remain central to this approach. However, it does open the door to a more flexible approach to release windowing of first-party new games more generally. As the industry has seen with the shift away from platform exclusivity, Microsoft is not averse to pivoting its strategy to deliver a better outcome for the company."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
Leela: "Remember Fry's idea to offer free delivery?"
Fry: "It got us a lot of customers!"
Leela: "WE'RE A DELIVERY COMPANY!"
There's a lot to criticize Xbox for. But, I appreciate that they keep trying new things. And I appreciate even more that they are willing to walk things like this back, when it becomes clear that they made a mistake.
Game Pass Price Drop???????????????????????????????????????
2023: Ultimate 12.99 € (without call of dutty)
2024: Ultimate 17.99 € (with Call of Dutty)
2026: Ultimate 20.99 € (without call of dutty)
That's a downgrade and price anchoring.
We knew Game Pass barely had an increase in subs when COD was put there day one with BO6. That tells me most did not care, so no longer having COD day one and thus reducing the price is a good thing. Most people will be happy about this.
Let’s see if this will not backfire. COD was one of the few reasons for me to subscribe for ultimate (although I never paid full price for ultimate in Germany). Currently I would rather cancel the subscription after it expires around November
