Call of Duty on Game Pass reportedly cost Microsoft $300 million in lost sales

The past month has been rough for Xbox. Over the past few weeks we've seen console prices go up, studios closed, high-profile projects cancelled and now this week, Game Pass has been restructured, with a 50% price hike for Game Pass Ultimate, which is now the only tier to include day-one games. According to sources, the writing has been on the wall for Game Pass since Call of Duty joined the Game Pass library, as the move apparently cost Microsoft hundreds of millions in lost sales. 

A new report from Bloomberg claims that Xbox lost more than $300 million in Call of Duty sales across Xbox consoles and PC when it made the decision to bring it to Game Pass on day one. The move did not bring enough growth to the subscription service to offset those lost sales. One industry analyst, Joost Van Dreunen, told the news outlet that Microsoft's recent moves are a result of infrastructure costs not aligning with their pricing model.

According to IGN, a massive 82% of the game's sales revenue came via sales on PS5. If Microsoft had made the decision to make COD an Xbox exclusive, it would have potentially been disastrous. Still, despite the claimed low sales volume on Xbox and PC, this didn't stop Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 from becoming the highest selling game in the US last year.

Moving forward, Game Pass Ultimate will cost $30 per month and there is no annual subscription option at this time. Game Pass Ultimate is now the only tier to offer day-one games, while Game Pass Premium (formerly Game Pass Standard) will add Xbox-published games around one year after release, which is closer to Sony's subscription offering, PlayStation Plus. Notably though, Call of Duty is the one franchise not guaranteed to come to the Game Pass Premium library within a year of launch.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: How do you feel about the recent Game Pass changes? Are you still on board, or have you cancelled your subscription? 

Become a Patron!