Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price drops to $23 as COD release window tightens
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price drops to $23 as COD release window tightens
Microsoft slashes Game Pass Ultimate to $23/month after a 2025 price hike, while new Call of Duty titles won’t appear on the service for about a year.
Microsoft is trimming the price of Game Pass Ultimate to $23 per month, effective immediately as of April 21, 2026. The move follows a highly publicized price jump last October, when the subscription climbed from $20 to $30 for new subscribers, triggering widespread player backlash. The latest adjustment is framed as a permanent step to restore value for a service that bundles a large catalog of games, online multiplayer, and other perks across Xbox and PC.
In tandem with the price cut, Microsoft also announced a notable licensing change: new Call of Duty titles will not appear on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass for roughly a year after their release. That means players won’t see the latest COD entries on the service immediately after launch, a shift that appears tied to licensing terms and publishing negotiations while Microsoft rebalances content strategy. Previously, major COD releases had shown up on Game Pass close to or shortly after their release dates, such as the 2024 Modern Warfare III rollout and subsequent titles.
The public framing of the change suggests a balance between lower monthly costs and selective delivery of high-profile games. For some subscribers, the price now sits “almost back” to pre-2025 levels, though the COD embargo could temper the service’s appeal for gamers who rely on new releases as a core draw. Industry observers will be watching how this combination of price adjustment and content timing affects Game Pass’s value proposition as competitors offer alternative subscriptions and first-party Xbox titles continue to arrive on other platforms.
