The brewing question everyone had when Microsoft acquired Activision for nearly $70 billion was whether or not Call of Duty would release on Game Pass. In fact, when it came to the acquisition, Call of Duty was pretty much front and center in most of the discussions between Microsoft and Sony and the many regulators Microsoft went through. And now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal states that Call of Duty’s next installment, Black Ops 6, is coming day one to Xbox Game Pass.
According to WSJ, “Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its video game sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime, lucrative approach of only selling it a la carte.” Microsoft had declined to comment on the news to WSJ though.
The report seems to confirm the recent comments from Xbox president Sarah Bond, who had made indications that Microsoft’s upcoming games and Activision games would be launching onto Game Pass right away.
There have been concerns raised about this strategy, including the potential of cannibalization of sales due to Game Pass. Basically, there are fears that releasing Call of Duty onto Game Pass would ultimately hurt the long-term sales of the game. Still, Call of Duty will be available to purchase on other platforms like the PlayStation and for people that aren’t interested in Game Pass.
Call of Duty games tend to sell for $70 on launch and sell quite a decent amount of copies, averaging around 25 million, which leads to hundreds of millions in revenue. By releasing straight to Game Pass, much of this sales figure could disappear as people opt to subscribe to Game Pass for a monthly fee rather than pay for Call of Duty alone.
It’s quite clear that adding Call of Duty to Game Pass would help Microsoft boost subscription figures, something they have likely analyzed before making this sort of move. It does appear that Microsoft is also planning to raise the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate again, which is pretty anticipated at this point.
Call of Duty’s next game, Black Ops 6, is set to release late October 2024. The story will take place around the Gulf War and will be developed by Treyarch. Microsoft is also rumored to be releasing other Call of Duty games onto Game Pass prior to Black Ops 6’s release.
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
