Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Gets a Price Cut, But Call of Duty Is Leaving Day One

Microsoft has reduced the monthly price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99, effective April 21, 2026.

PC Game Pass is also getting cheaper, dropping from $16.49 to $13.99 per month. Both changes kicked in immediately.

The catch? New Call of Duty titles will no longer be available on day one through either plan.

This is a pretty big shift for a service that built a lot of its reputation on offering blockbuster titles right at launch. For a while, that was the main selling point. Now, Microsoft is walking it back, at least when it comes to Call of Duty.

Here is a quick breakdown of the changes:

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 down to $22.99/month

• PC Game Pass: $16.49 down to $13.99/month

• New Call of Duty titles will be added roughly a year after launch, during the following holiday season

• Existing Call of Duty games already in the library remain unaffected

According to Microsoft, this change is a direct response to player feedback. "Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn't a single model that's best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we've gotten so far. We'll continue to listen and learn."

That sounds fair enough. But there is also some important context here.

Just last year, in October 2025, Microsoft bumped Game Pass Ultimate from $20 to nearly $30 a month. That jump, a roughly 50% increase, did not go over well with the community. It came just a month before the launch of Black Ops 7, and a lot of players felt the timing was more than a little suspicious.

Before that, the service had a much humbler origin. It launched back in 2017 at just $10 a month. When Xbox Live Gold was folded into the package to create Game Pass Ultimate, the price went up to $15. From there, it climbed steadily over the years.

The current rollback follows a leaked internal memo from newly appointed Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma. She took over after longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer retired in February 2026. Sharma was direct in her message to the team: "Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation."

She later posted publicly on X, stating: "Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players. Starting today, we're dropping the price from $29.99 to $22.99/month. Future Call of Duty titles will no longer join Game Pass Ultimate on day one. They will join this tier the following holiday after launch (about a year later). Current Call of Duty titles will remain available to Ultimate subscribers. We'll keep learning and evolving Game Pass to better match what matters to players."

Now, removing Call of Duty from day one availability is not a small trade-off. That franchise is one of the biggest in gaming. Many subscribers were essentially paying for the guarantee of getting the latest title on launch day. Going forward, that perk is gone. Players who want the next Call of Duty at launch will have to buy it separately, likely at the standard $69.99 price point.

It is also worth noting that Sharma hinted at a longer-term evolution of the service. Reports by The Information have also suggested that an ad-supported, lower-cost tier is being explored, similar to what streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu have done.