Late last year, Xbox closed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, obtaining the rights to the Call of Duty franchise in the process. Several months have since passed, and not only does the service still not have any Activision Blizzard games, but there have been a lot of questions about whether Xbox Game Pass will be getting Call of Duty games on day one, as we normally see with titles published by Microsoft. Reporting from The Wall Street Journal has seemingly confirmed that will happen later this year, but it appears the debut of Call of Duty on the service will lead to some changes.ย
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Is Game Pass Bad for Xbox?
During a ResetEra discussion speculating about an Xbox Game Pass price increase, leaker Shinobi602 chimed in, replying to one poster with “there will be changes, yes.” It’s hard to say exactly what changes those might be, but we could see new subscription tiers, and possibly higher prices. Readers should always take leaks with a grain of salt, but it’s worth noting that Shinobi602 has proven very reliable in the past. This also isn’t the first time that a price increase for Xbox Game Pass has been brought up recently, so it will be interesting to see if there’s any validity to these reports.ย
Xbox Game Pass has been something of a double-edged sword for Microsoft. While the service has been great for Xbox users, there have been signs that it’s becoming increasingly problematic for the company. It seems there’s a lot more pressure on Xbox to actually sell first-party games to recoup development costs. However, with all Xbox first-party games releasing day one on the system, there isn’t a good reason for players to actually purchase them.ย
Changes at Microsoft
There have been a lot of signs that Xbox might have to make changes to the current Game Pass model. The company shocked fans with the closure of several first-party studios this month, including Tango Gameworks. The studio had developed Hi-Fi Rush, which had found a passionate following on Game Pass and Steam. Despite creating a critically-acclaimed, award winning game, the studio was still deemed unworthy of keeping open, with Microsoft instead looking for Bethesda teams to prioritize bigger options, like a new Fallout.ย
With all of the current troubles at Xbox, and the lack of definitive answers about Call of Duty, it will be interesting to see how Game Pass is reshaped to become more profitable. There’s clearly been a lot of hand-wringing at Xbox over how to maximize profits without killing the Game Pass model. With Xbox apparently planning to unveil the new Call of Duty next month, we should have answers sooner, rather than later.ย
Do you think the price of Xbox Game Pass will increase in time for the new Call of Duty? Do you think the service is actively hurting Xbox game sales? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachampย or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
[H/T: Video Games Chronicle]
