Microsoft Plans Changes to Game Pass; One of Them May Be Another Price Hike

Source: Microsoft

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Things are going badly in Microsoft's gaming department. The last few days have been marked by the shut down of several large development studios owned by the company, including Arkane Austin (developers of Prey and Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo, The Evil Within series), and Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom). According to the latest reports, the company's problems stem from the condition of the Game Pass subscription service, among other things. The Redmond giant is expected to consider changes to its subscription strategy due to the significant slowdown in its growth (currently at 34 million subscribers).

Call of Duty 2024 not in Game Pass?

Microsoft's biggest problem is with the Call of Duty series. According to Tom Warren's sources, there are discussions in the company whether to add this year's CoD installment to Game Pass at all.

The Call of Duty series generated absurd revenues for Activision Blizzard every year, which is now owned by Xbox. However, there are concerns in Microsoft that making the game available in Game Pass would significantly reduce the profitability of this year's installment of the series. Many series fans are already paying for this subscription, so ultimately they wouldn't purchase the new CoD, and the potential growth in the number of subscribers may not compensate for the losses resulting from lower sales.

The big problem for Microsoft is the expectations of the players. The company has made us used to the fact that all its new game releases are available on Game Pass on the same day they are released for sale. If Call of Duty 2024 were different, it would be a big change in the company's strategy that could affect the long-term development prospects of the service. Let's imagine that, for instance, Netflix would suddenly make us pay extra for some of its biggest series. Subscribers would definitely not react well to such a move.

Microsoft's doubts can be seen in how the company approaches the Activision Blizzard game catalog. It's been seven months since the publisher was taken over, and so far the only game that has made it to Game Pass is Diablo 4, and that only happened at the end of March 2024. It's quite surprising that several old installments of Call of Duty haven't been added yet.

Will Game Pass be more expensive?

Discussions at Microsoft are also said to be underway regarding another potential price increase for the Game Pass Ultimate subscription, following last year's raise. Tom Warren suggests that a potential solution to the issue with Call of Duty could involve releasing this year's installment exclusively in the top-tier subscription package, which would also be significantly much more expensive than before.

1. Xbox - official website